Over 20 million learners enroll for upcoming school year — DepEd

MANILA, Philippines — Over 20 million learners have enrolled in both public and private schools for the upcoming school year, the Department of Education (DepEd) said Wednesday.

“As of this morning, practically three-fourth of our enrollees last year have returned. We have a total already of 20,220,507 learners who are already registered with us,” DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones said in a pre-State of the Nation Address forum.

There were 27.7 million learners who enrolled in both public and private schools last year.

“And more will be coming tomorrow and many more will take advantage of the late enrollment policy of DepEd which has always been there,” Briones said.

The DepEd initially scheduled the enrollment in the entire month of June and later on extended it until July 15.

In a message to reporters, DepEd undersecretary Jesus Mateo said that late enrollment may be accepted until the last week of September.

“Based on DO [Department Order] 13 s. 2018, a ‘school may accept late enrollees provided that the learner will be able to meet eighty percent (80%) of the prescribed number of school days for each school year and the quarterly requirement to pass the grade level as governed by the latest existing applicable DepEd issuances,’” Mateo said.

“This means until last week of September,” he added.

Classes are set to open on August 24.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, DepEd said it will implement a “blended learning” where learning modules, television, radio and the internet are utilized as media of instruction.

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