Enrollment of 26.3 million students higher than in 2020 but below 2019 level

A primary school in Sampaloc, Manila have started accepting enrollment applications which started last August 16 and will end on September 13, also the start of classes, the DepEd said. INQUIRER / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the continuing challenges under the distance learning setup, more students have enrolled this school year, surpassing last year’s total on Wednesday.

According to data from the Department of Education (DepEd), the number of students who had signed up as of 2 a.m. on Sept. 15 was 26,308,875, or 100.3 percent of last year’s enrollment.

However, the total was still lower compared to the prepandemic figure of an estimated 27 million students for school year 2019-2020.

More than 20 million of the enrollees for school year 2021-2022 were from public schools while 1.67 million were from private schools.

Accept late enrollees

Under a DepEd order released on Monday, public schools were instructed to accept late enrollees until the end of the month.

The order also applied to private schools and state colleges and universities following the department’s academic calendar.

The DepEd said that 11 out of 17 regions reported an enrollment rate of over 100 percent, which indicated that students who opted to skip school last year were rejoining the basic education system.

The number of enrollees under the alternative learning system also went up, hitting 199,422 as of Wednesday, although it was still only 33 percent of the 599,365 registered learners last year.

In a statement, the DepEd thanked the field offices, school heads and teachers for their “dedication and hard work in encouraging the public to enroll.”

“Likewise, we are grateful to the parents of our learners who continue to put their trust and support in DepEd and for learning continuity amid the pandemic,” it said.

Sept. 30 deadline

It added that it was expecting the enrollment figures to go up further after the deadline was extended to Sept. 30.

During the fiscal year 2022 budget hearing on Tuesday, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said that in formal basic education, the DepEd recorded an 8.45 percent increase in enrollment from 24.92 million in 2016 to 27.03 million learners in 2019.

“We have worked ceaselessly to address the challenge of quality in basic education because we could see after the first year that we are gaining much in terms of enrollment and making facilities available for our learners,” she said.

Briones said the DepEd was also working on improving the tools and teaching aids to ensure learning continuity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.