DepEd asks parents to enroll kids ASAP

CEBU, Philippines — The Department of Education-7 is still short of its projected target of learners in the current school year more than two weeks into the opening of classes.

As of August 13, 2024, DepEd-7 reported a total of 1,936,931 enrollees in Central Visayas both in public and private schools for school year 2024-2025.

DepEd-7 has earlier said they hope to hit their 2.1 million target by the start of the school year.

On the other hand, DepEd-7 regional director Salustiano Jimenez said during the Kapihan sa PIA yesterday that since enrollment is still ongoing, everyday the number is increasing.

“More or less mga 2 million na ang na enroll but wala pa lang ma officially encoded sa atong data. Atong target is 2.1 million nga mga learners ang mo enroll for this school year. So, kuwang pa ta og mga 100,000 ka learners and that is a lot. Mao bitaw na hangyo namo sa mga ginikanan ug nga guardians nga ipa enroll na ang ilang nga anak kay even up to now sigi pa naay magpa enroll,” said Jimenez.

But the problem, Jimenez emphasized, with parents still enrolling their children after weeks of classes is that the students are already behind in their lessons.

Jimenez said most of the reasons for the delay of enrollment is the parents' hectic schedule while others have transferred to another location.

“Mao gyud ni pirmi ang irason nga busy sila mao wa dayon nila ma enroll ilang mga anak or naa sad uban mag transferees,” said Jimenez.

He added that a help desk has been put in place so that parents do not have any excuse for their children not to be enrolled.

Jimenez further reminded parents and guardians not to delay the enrollment of their kids any further as it will also affect the budget allocation of the schools that will also affect the learning process.

Based on the data released by the department, out of 1.9 million students already enrolled, 941,533 are elementary; 563,886 are Junior High School; 280,245 are Senior High School; and 129,235 are in Kinder.

Of the total enrollees, 993,992 are males and 942,939 are females.

Also of the total enrollees, 1,698,950 are enrolled in public schools; 214,792 are enrolled in private schools; 1,157 are enrolled in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs)/Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs); and 22,043 are enrolled in Alternative Learning System (ALS).

Jimenez said they are still looking into having more students and hopefully convince parents to enroll them immediately.

“Sige pa pud ug pangita sa mga ginikanan…Katong wala pa makaadto sa eskwelahan ilang dad-on,” said Jimenez. —/ATO (FREEMAN)