An official of the Department of Education (DepEd) urged parents of late enrollees Thursday to enroll their children as soon as possible instead of waiting until November which is the deadline for the late registration.
DepEd Undersecretary for Planning Jesus Mateo appealed to parents to enroll their children at the soonest possible time, especially now that classes in public schools have started.
“While late enrollment is until Nov. 21, we appeal to the parents and guardians – who still have plans to send their children to school – to enlist them as soon as possible and not wait until next month,” Mateo said.
Mateo said that aside from planning purposes, enrolling the soonest possible time will be beneficial for children as well. “We encourage them not to wait until November to participate in the late enrollment because the children will have a harder time to catch up on the lessons,” he said.
Classes for School Year (SY) 2020-2021 formally opened last Oct. 5 after two postponements due to the COVID-19 situation in the country. Without face-to-face classes, DepEd developed its Basic Education-Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP) as a response to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Mateo said that enrollment, especially in public schools, has increased when classes started this week. “Maybe because the parents, who had reservations before, saw how the learning modalities work and they were convinced that the safety and welfare of their children are prioritized by DepEd,” he added.
Mateo said that the 22.58 million enrollment in public schools is already 100 percent of the enrollment in SY 2019-2020. While there are 398,000 students who transferred from private to public schools this year, he noted that it “is important to highlight that all learners have the opportunity to continue education.”
As of Oct. 8, there are 24.81 million enrollees in both public and private schools nationwide. Of this number, 2.175 million are enrolled in private schools.