DepEd to accept late enrollees until end-September

Late enrollees for School Year 2023-2024 will still be allowed until the end of the month as the Department of Education (DepEd) gave the leeway in light of the disruptions brought about by the recent weather disturbances. 

DepEd deputy spokesperson Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas said this in a Viber message to reporters on Wednesday, expressing confidence that the agency will still be able reach its 28.8 million enrollment target for the current school year.

“Yes we are on course naman. We will be looking at a final number considering the variance between Grade 12 who graduated and incoming Kindergarten, among others,” he said.

The Education Department is still 3 million short of its target as of Wednesday, 9 a.m., as only a total of 25,890,617 students in public schools, private schools, State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), and Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) were enrolled.

Data from DepEd’s Learner Information System (LIS) showed that Calabarzon has the most number of enrollees so far at 3,821,034.

This was followed by Central Luzon with 2,817,827, National Capital Region with 2,675,386, and Central Visayas with 1,999,476.

The Cordillera Administrative Region, meanwhile, logged the lowest number of enrollees at 406,815.

Bringas said that the enrollment numbers are still moving as schools continue to update their data on the LIS.

“Once 100% of schools have reported, mag-close na [it will close] and we will have the official number for this school year,” he added.

He also said that DepEd will implement child-find procedures to know the reasons why some students are not returning to school.

“Reason for not enrolling is not because they are displaced. The public schools do not refuse enrolment,” Bringas said.

“Once LIS closes (after the first month), schools will employ child-find procedures to determine reasons for not returning to school. ALS will be the other alternative for them to continue if they are unable to continue formal schooling for some reasons,” he added.

In the previous academic year, there were 28.4 million students enrolled across the country. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News