The Early Registration for School Year (SY) 2021-2022 has been scheduled from March until April this year, the Department of Education (DepEd) said.
Following the changes made in the school calendar for School Year (SY) 2020-2021, DepEd Undersecretary for Planning, Human Resource and Organizational Development Jesus Mateo confirmed to the Manila Bulletin that the early enrollment for the upcoming school year was also moved.
“The Early Registration done last week of January every year is deferred to March 26-April 30,” Mateo said. This, he added, will be conducted through remote registration.
Mateo noted that the original schedule of the Early Registration is during the last Saturday of January to last Friday of February every year. However, he explained that for this school year, “it did not push through because of the change in school calendar.”
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.
Learners in Grades 2 to 8; Grades 8 to 10; and Grade 12 are already considered “pre-registered,” thus, they will not have to participate in the Early Registration.
The conduct of Early Registration is compulsory for public schools while optional for private schools. DepEd also encourages private schools to “conduct their respective early registration activities on the same time frame.”
Aside from incoming kinder and grades 1, 7 and 11 students, the Early Registration also seeks 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.
Every year, DepEd encourages parents and learners to participate in early enrollment to help the agency prepare for the school opening.
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.”