The Department of Education is hoping that the number of enrolled students for the school year 2021-2022 will exceed last year's enrollment numbers.
At the deliberation of the House of Representatives' Committee on Appropriation on the DepEd's P630.8-billion proposed budget for 2022, Education Secretary Leonor Briones reported that as of Tuesday, September 14, over 25,582,224 students have so far enrolled for the current school year.
The current number is higher than the 24,603,822 recorded on the first of classes in public school Monday, September 13; and is 97.5 percent of last year's enrollment of 26,227,022, the agency disclosed.
Briones said they expect more children to register in the coming days.
"We expect the numbers to grow when we get new from schools abroad...and if we take in to consideration non-formal education, or the alternative learning system," she told lawmakers.
"I think we will exceed the level of enrollment last year," Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan also said, citing indications that students who stopped studying in the previous school year will be returning this year.
The DepEd has extended the enrollment period until September 30.
Despite the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Briones had declared the school opening a "success".