With the steady increase in enrollment for the incoming school year, the Department of Education (DepEd) asked parents and guardians to enroll school-aged children as early as possible.
“We want to invite our parents who have not yet enrolled their children in school to enroll them,” DepEd Spokesperson Michael Poa said in a mix of English and Filipino during a press briefing on Wednesday, Aug. 10.
Poa noted that it would be best for parents or guardians not to wait until the last day of enrollment before enrolling their children in school.
“We hope that they can enroll their children as soon as possible so we, at DepEd, can prepare our schools based on the actual expected of learners,” he added.
As of Aug. 10, Poa said there are 18.6 million enrolled learners for School Year (SY) 2022-2023.
This number, Poa explained, is already around 64 to 67% of DepEd’s target of 28.6 million for this SY.
Compared to last year’s turnout, Poa said there is a spike in terms of the number of enrollees during the first week this year.
“Last year there were around 2.4 million learners for the first week of enrollment this year, we have 10.4 million enrollees for the first week,” he added.
While there is still a week and a half before the enrollment period ends on the first day of classes on Aug. 22, Poa said that “we are really encouraging our parents to enroll their children.”
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https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/04/august-22-school-opening-to-push-through-deped-spox/
Citing DepEd’s experience in the previous years, some parents still enroll their children on the last day of enrollment and even when classes are already ongoing.
Amid the ongoing public health situation brought about by Covid-19, monkeypox, dengue, and recent calamities, Poa said that for “this year, we really want to be better prepared for school opening.”
“We have strategies for that but in order for those strategies to be effective, we need to get concrete numbers on how many learners are expected per school,” Poa said.
In preparation for school opening, Poa said that a Command Center will be reactivated to address problems, issues, and concerns on the first day of classes.
The majority of schools, Poa said, were closed during the height of the pandemic in the past two years.
“We’re sure that this will not be without issues but the Command Center will be there to make sure that the opening of classes will be smooth,” he explained.
Poa said that this year’s opening of classes “will not be without challenges” thus, DepEd is urging education stakeholders to come and work together for the safe resumption of face-to-face classes for SY 2022-2023.
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