MANILA, Philippines — Nearly 22.7 million students have so far enrolled for this upcoming school year amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Department of Education (DepEd) reported Thursday.
During the online hearing of the House committee on basic education and culture, DepEd Undersecretary Toni Umali said over 21.18 million students enrolled in public schools as of August 6.
This is equivalent to 93.85 percent of the students enrolled in public schools for the school year 2019 to 2020, said Umali.
Meanwhile, 1.47 million students enrolled in private schools or only over 34 percent of students in private schools enrolled last year.
Umali, however, noted that this low number of enrolees in private schools could still be higher.
“Naniniwala kami na ‘yang datos mula sa private schools ay baka mas mataas pa nang bahagya dahil baka mayroon pa ring hindi nag-uulat sa amin ng kanilang mga enrollees at ongoing naman din ang kanilang pagtanggap ng mga mag-aaral sa kanilang paaralan,” Umali told lawmakers.
(We believe that this data from private schools could be a little bit higher because there could be schools that have yet to report their enrollees and they are still accepting students in their institutions.)
Data from DepEd shows that 3.04 million students enrolled in the Calabarzon region, followed by Region III (2.36 million), the National Capital Region (2.35 million), Region VII (1.8 million), and Region VI (1.76 million).
The data includes those enrolled in kindergarten, elementary, junior high school, and senior high school levels.
It also includes learners with disabilities and those enrolled in an alternative learning system (ALS).
Classes are set to resume on August 24 under a distance learning set-up as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.[ac]