DepEd: 27.8M students expected in schools in June

An estimated 27.8 million students nationwide are expected to be back to school this academic year, according to the Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday.

“As early as January up to whole month of February, we did our early registration,” DepEd spokesperson Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla told GMA News Online.

Around 25 million of the said total number of students are enrolled in public schools.

The DepEd launched Oplan Balik Eskwela on Monday, engaging partners from various sectors to ensure the safe and orderly opening of classes on June 3.

Sevilla added that the success of the upcoming back-to-school activities depends heavily on the cooperation of the stakeholders which include different national government agencies, local government units, parents, and the students themselves.

A Public Assistance Command Center was set up and will operate until June 7, 2019 to accommodate and address all concerns regarding balik-eskwela as early as possible.

“Gusto kasi namin sa June 3 mag-start na ng lessons... Noong araw kung maaalala mo, ang first day of class cleaning of classroom di ba? Ngayon hindi ‘yan mangyayari dahil nag-Brigada Eskwela na kami,” Sevilla said.

She added that 33,000 public school teachers will be hired this year to improve the teacher to student ratio and ensure quality education in public schools.

Further, Sevilla urged the parents to prepare their children psychologically and emotionally for the start of classes and to nurture in them a happy and positive mindset about going to school.

“We are promoting this happy school concept na ang bata ay pumapasok sa eskwelahan nang masaya dahil ito ang kaniyang second home. We assure our parents, especially those in the public schools na kami ay nagpo-promote ng child protection program, kami ay nagpo-promote ng disaster management preparation at pati po mga kalusugan ng mga bata,” she said. — RSJ, GMA News