DepEd to accept late enrollees until end-September

The Department of Education (DepEd) will accept late enrollees until the last week of September, according to Undersecretary Jess Mateo.

“We still allow late enrollees under Department Order (DO) s. 2018,” Mateo told GMA News Online on Tuesday.

Mateo said that schools may accept late enrollees provided that the learner will be able to meet 80 percent of the prescribed number of school days for each school year.

Aside from this, late enrollees should still accomplish the quarterly requirement to pass the grade level.

“This means until last week of September,” Mateo said.

The enrolment period already ended on July 15, with 20.2 million students registered out of the 27.7 million expected students.

As of Tuesday morning, Mateo told GMA News Online, the total number of enrolment has increased to 21.7 million. It means that around 1.5 million late enrollees have registered so far.

Due to the threat of COVID-19, DepEd initially said that classes will resume through distance learning, where students do not have to go to school to participate in classes.

However, DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones has now suggested "limited" face-to-face classes in areas with low risk of COVID-19 infections. The proposal was later approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.

DepEd also removed around 60% of the curriculum to adjust for the remote learning approach this coming school year, which was scheduled to start on August 24.

The department has been preparing for ways to deliver education to students through self-learning modules, broadcast media, and the internet. — BM, GMA News