Education Secretary Leonor Briones commended the Department of Education (DepEd)-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) for its school opening initiatives which reflect the readiness of the schools in the region for the formal opening of classes on Oct. 5.

DepEd-CAR conducted the “Readiness Shout-out” or the regional kick-off for the new school year on Sept. 23 where the local officials showcased their ongoing projects and initiatives that aim to ensure that learning opportunities will be available for all students in the region.
 
Briones, in a video message, commended the DepEd-CAR for the kick-off activity. She also emphasized the importance of learning continuity despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
“We open a historic year, a victorious year because in spite of all the criticisms, the screams, the curses, and the shouts, 24 million learners still want to go to school, 50 million parents want their children to go to school, and around 900K teachers want to stay and continue teaching learners as well as hundreds and thousands of staff of DepEd have pushed themselves to the limit during the past few months to come out with appropriate responses and solutions to the challenges of the pandemic,” Briones said.
 
Currently, there are already 400,099 students enrolled in both public and private schools in CAR. Of this number, 356,907 students enrolled in government schools which is 96.78 percent compared to last year’s enrollment.
 
Based on the total enrolment data from Schools Division Offices and the Policy, Planning, and Research Division of DepEd CAR, Benguet Province has the highest number of enrollees with a total of 86,230 while the Kalinga province has the least number of enrollees with 23,480.
 
DepEd-CAR Regional Director May Eclar said that the readiness of public schools in the region is due to the concerted efforts of education stakeholders in supporting as well as bringing across DepEd’s advocacies on learning continuity to all sectors.
 
“All these efforts and more are linked with our division offices and at their level, concrete efforts and actions are being undertaken or operationalized,” Eclar said.
 
The schools division offices, through their superintendents, gave updates on modular learning and blended learning, TV/Radio-based instruction, psychosocial support and mental health awareness preparation, health and safety protocol adherence and partnerships with their local government units.