Since it cannot force parents to send their children to school, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday, Feb. 8, said that it will continue to “find ways” on how to help those who were not able to enroll this school year.
Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio, in a Manila Bulletin phone interview, said this in response to the statement of Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara issued on Sunday, Feb. 7 noting that the “growing number of out of school youth is a cause of concern.”
“On our part, we’re trying to respect the decision of the parents because it was their choice not to send their children to school at this time,” San Antonio said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Angara, who also serves as the chairman of the Committee on Youth, said that there is a “need to pay more attention” to the situation of out of school youth (OSY) - particularly during the time of a pandemic. He added that the increase in the number of OSY is a “serious issue that could lead to bigger problems later on if left unchecked.”
San Antonio said that the DepEd recognizes this concern. “This is why we continue to discuss this with the Alternative Learning System (ALS) and we’re also trying to find ways to address this,” he added.
This school year 2020-2021, DepEd data showed that there was a decrease in the total enrollment at the basic education level - mainly due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation in the country.
DepEd enrollment as of Nov. 11, 2020 showed that the combined enrollment for both public and private schools was 25.05 million.
While this represents 90.2% of DepEd’s enrollment last year, there was a reduction in enrollment mainly in private schools - where enrollment reached only 51.7% of last year’s enrollment. Meanwhile, the enrollment in public schools for formal education even increased by 2.4% than last year’s enrollment.
“Ideally, every child should be able to avail of basic education services,” San Antonio said in Filipino. “However, we cannot force the parents to enroll their children at this time, it has become optional,” he added.
San Antonio said that the shift to distance learning as well as the fear of contracting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), even when there are no face-to-face classes, are among the reasons why some parents decided not to enroll their children this school year.
“We are doing everything we can to address these issues but there also has to be accountability on the part of the parents,” he added.