Due to the adjustments in this year’s school calendar, the Department of Education (DepEd) has moved the conduct of the Early Registration for School Year (SY) 2021-2022 to March until April.
DepEd Undersecretary for Planning, Human Resource and Organizational Development, and Field Operations Jesus Mateo said that the original schedule of the Early Registration was in January. “It did not push through because of the change in school calendar,” he told the Manila Bulletin on Monday, March 1.
In the school calendar for SY 2020-2021, the Early Registration was supposed to be conducted on January 30. Mateo said that the tentative schedule for the said activity has been moved this March. In a separate message, DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio said that the target schedule for the Early Registration is in April.
Meanwhile, Mateo also underscored the importance of participating in Early Enrollment. “We always remind the parents to participate in early enrollment,” he said in an interview over DZRH.
In many instances, Mateo said that enrollment does not entirely depend on DepEd. “Oftentimes, it is really the parents who decide whether or not they will enroll their children to school,” he added.
To encourage the parents and learners to enroll early for the incoming school year, DepEd holds the Early Registration annually.
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.
DepEd said that the conduct of 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 alsoseeks 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.
Before the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation in the country, registration desks are put up in public elementary, junior and senior high schools nationwide for the month-long activity.