The Department of Education (DepEd) is expecting 28 million students to go back to school for School Year (SY) 2023-2024.
“We expect that this coming 2023-2024, we are welcoming 28 million learners who will troop to more than 47,000 schools nationwide,” DepEd Undersecretary for Governance and Field Operations Revsee Escobedo said during the 2023 Oplan Balik Eskwela launching and Command Conference on Tuesday, Aug. 15.
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“Since we are still on the learning recovery mode, opening of another school year is very critical to improving the learning outcomes,” Escobedo said.
School opening preparations
Escobedo underscored the importance of convening DepEd’s partners in the sectors of health and safety, peace and order, facilities and transportation, stakeholder engagement, and allied services to ensure the smooth and orderly opening of classes in public schools.
“We are expecting that this year, the opening of classes --- with your support, with your help --- we will welcome our 28 million lifelong learners and we expect that the opening of classes in Aug. 29 will be smooth, safe and orderly,” he added.
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https://mb.com.ph/2023/8/3/classes-in-public-schools-for-sy-2023-2024-to-start-on-aug-29-dep-ed
As DepEd’s annual initiative, the OBE enables the agency to collaborate with other government agencies, organizations, and stakeholders for the opening of classes.
“This year, we acknowledge that we will face a lot of tasks and challenges on top of the perennial problems that we have,” Escobedo said.
“But rest assured that DepEd continues its efforts to address these challenges but we will need a whole-of-nation approach to successfully do this,” he added.
Escobedo explained that the OBE is part of DepEd’s move to “increase collaboration and communication” among government entities, private institutions, and stakeholders to address the main concerns of the general public about the resumption of classes.
“We need to ensure that our schools and classrooms are physically ready, safe, fully functional and supportive of fundamental learning and education,” Escobedo said.
Recognizing that the smooth and orderly opening of classes is an undertaking that cannot be done by the DepEd alone, Escobedo said that the department continues to reach out to its partners.
“Your support is very much welcome,” Escobedo told the representatives of DepEd’s partner agencies.
“We need all the help that we can get and that’s why your assistance and initiatives for the opening of classes are essential for a successful school opening and ushering in an exciting year of education for our lifelong learners,” he added.
Enrollment figures
During the 2023 Brigada Eskwela kick-off on Aug. 7, DepEd Undersecretary and Spokesperson Michael Poa explained that there were over four million learners who participated in the Early Registration.
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https://mb.com.ph/2023/6/15/dep-ed-4-2-million-learners-registered-early-for-sy-2023-2024
“We are expecting more than the 28.4 million learners last year but those are just based on assumptions,” Poa, who also co-chairs the 2023 OBE - Public Assistance Command Center (PACC), said.
Poa, however, clarified that the 28 million enrollees --- based on last year’s data --- are an “assumption, not a target.”
“Our growth rate is around 1.7 percent per year --- that’s the additional [number] of enrollees we get per year,” Poa explained.
“If we are looking at that, our Planning Service is saying that around 28.8 million yung inaasahan (are expected to) enroll this year based on the growth rate,” he added.
Enrollment in public schools started on Aug. 7 until Aug. 26.
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“We will check, based on the trend, during the enrollment period if we can achieve that 28.8 million,” Poa said.
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https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/22/over-28-million-learners-enrolled-for-sy-2022-2023-deped/