By Merlina Hernando-Malipot
DepEd Spokesperson Annalyn Sevilla confirmed to the Manila Bulletin that the Early Registration is not included in the activities that were suspended until further notice by the agency as developments on 2019-nCoV ARD continue to unfold in the country.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
The Early Registration is an annual activity led by DepEd to ensure that all new entrants for Kindergarten, Grades 1, 7, and 11 learners in public and private elementary and secondary schools nationwide are listed months before the opening of the new school year.
Registration desks in public elementary, junior and senior high schools nationwide officially opened on Saturday, February 1. The activity will continue until March 6, 2020.
On the first day of the Early Registration (February 1), DepEd data showed that there are 740, 531 incoming learners who have participated in the activity. Of this, 367, 526 are male and 373, 005 are female.
Early Registration data as of February 5 showed that there are 2,605,298 who registered: 641,004 for Kinder; 954,309 for Grade 1; 636,014 for Grade 7 and 373,971 for Grade 11.
Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan, in an earlier statement, said that the ongoing Early Registration has “mixed turn-out” - with some schools getting bigger participation rate while turnout in some schools are relatively “slower.”
As the 2019-nCoV ARD continues to spark fear among its stakeholders, Malaluan assured that “earlier advisories based on DOH info materials are still in place.”
On February 4, DepEd issued the memorandum 015 s. of 2020 or the First Set of Policy Directives of the DepEd Task Force nCoV.
The recently-issued directive cited that all national and regional activities that are scheduled this February which involve learners and teachers are suspended.
Off-campus activities such as educational and field trips are likewise suspended until further notice as a preventive measure against the possible spread of the 2019-nCoV ARD.
The Early Registration is compulsory for public schools while optional for private schools. To help public schools anticipate the number of enrollees for the coming school year, the Early Registration was instituted in the DepEd Order (DO) No. 3, s. 2018, otherwise known as the “Basic Education Enrolment Policy.”
Aside from incoming kinder and grades 1, 7 and 11 students, the Early Registration also “seeks to locate, identify and register” out-of-school children and youth in the community who may be characterized as: living with disability/ies, living in off-grid/far-flung community; a barangay without a school, or a geographically isolated area; displaced due to natural disaster; living in an armed conflict area or area with high level of criminality/drug abuse; having chronic illness or nutritional problem/s; victim of child abuse or economic exploitation; stateless/undocumented; in conflict with the law; living on the streets; and no longer in school but interested in going back to school.