More than 23.6 million students have so far enrolled for School Year (SY) 2020-2021, according to the data released by the Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday.
DepEd national enrollment data as of Aug. 25 showed that the total number of enrollees for the upcoming school year has reached 23, 671, 227 nationwide for Kindergarten to Grade 12, including Alternative Learning System (ALS) and non-graded learners with disabilities. This number, DepEd said, is 85.17 per cent of the total enrollment in SY 2019-2020.
The enrollment data also showed that there are 21, 829, 448 students enrolled in public schools which is 96.7 per cent of last SY’s enrollment. In private schools, there are 1, 797, 173 enrollees or 41.75 per cent of the SY 2019-2020 enrollment turnout.
The national enrollment data covers public and private schools as well as State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) and learners across all basic education levels including Kindergarten, Elementary or Grades 1 to 6, Junior High School (JHS) or Grades 7 to 10, and Senior High School (SHS) or Grades 11 and 12. Also included non-graded learners with disabilities and those under the ALS program.
DepEd’s latest data showed that there are 1, 664, 885 pupils enrolled in Kindergarten; 11, 479, 087 in Elementary; 7, 459, 187 in JHS; and 2, 645, 404 in SHS. There are also 62, 110 learners with disabilities who registered along with 360, 554 under the ALS program.
The highest number of enrollees were recorded from Region IV-A (Calabarzon) with 3.22 million followed by National Capital Region (NCR) and Region III (Central Luzon) with 2.47 million and 2.43 million, respectively.
Amid the threat of COVID-19, DepEd implemented a “remote enrollment” system nationwide for this school year so learners could register without face-to-face interaction.
In June, DepEd implemented remote enrollment through alternative means of communication that do not require physically reporting to school, such as text, call, email, and online messaging.
DepEd also opened drop boxes and kiosks in barangay halls and schools, where parents who do not have access to remote means of communication may pick up or drop off the Learner Enrollment and Survey Form (LESF) when it extended the enrollment period until July 15.
While the enrollment period for this SY has officially ended, DepEd allowed schools to implement “late enrollment” until the classes start on Oct. 5 for public schools nationwide.
In SY 2019-2020, enrollment data provided by DepEd’s Education Management Information System Division-Planning Service showed that the total number of enrollment in all sectors and levels of education was 27, 790, 114 for both formal and informal systems.
Of this number, 27, 030, 391 are learners from Kinder to Grade 12 and 759, 723 are in the ALS program. There were 22, 572, 923 enrollees in public schools and 4, 203, 676 in private schools last school year.