DepEd to accommodate all students despite classroom shortage

MANILA, Philippines - Transferees and latecomers are still allowed to enroll in public schools until this week, the Department of Education said yesterday.

Education Secretary Mona Valisno said she has ordered principals in more than 45,000 public schools nationwide to accommodate late enrollees and transferees with incomplete documents.

“Parents transferring their children to public schools and do not have the official records of the child yet due to various reasons are welcome to enroll them,” she said. 

“But I must remind them that they should submit these documents as soon as they can.”

Valisno said no fees will be collected from students during enrollment on orders of President Arroyo.

“Every Filipino child must be assured of the opportunity to get high quality education that will make him or her a whole person, a responsible citizen, and lead him or her to a successful entrepreneurial venture.”

Valisno said she is counting on the creativity of school principals to ensure that all enrollees are accommodated.

“We have a menu of teaching methods that they can apply,” she said. 

“Similarly, there are various means our school heads can do to manage large school populations.”

Valisno said many students cannot report to class regularly because of various reasons such as work, financial problems, physical handicap, family and health issues.

To keep students from dropping out, DepEd is implementing several programs like the Open High School Program, the Effective Alternative Secondary Education, and the Schools Initiated Interventions, she added. 

Valisno said other alternative delivery modes are the Modified In-School/Out-School Approach (MIS-OSA), parent assisted learning, and multi-grade education. 

Those who were out of school will be given the accreditation and equivalency test under DepEd’s Alternative Learning Systems to get them back to the mainstream of formal education, she added.

Valisno hopes the problem on shortage of classrooms will be resolved in coordination with other government agencies, private businesses, community leaders, and private individuals.

“With your support we can very well go beyond the estimated 23.4 million school children and move towards reaching 100 percent participation,” she said. 

“It may not happen this year but we can be well on our way to achieve the EFA 2015 millennium goal set by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,” she said.

Students can enroll in private high schools at gov’t expense

The DepEd’s Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education also allows poor but deserving students to enroll in private high schools at government expense to decongest public schools.

Tuition subsidies of P10,000 in Metro Manila and P5,000 outside the National Capital Region are paid directly to the schools.

Valisno said the government has poured about P4 billion to accommodate more than 700,000 students.

Of this number, 50,000 are in first year high school.

The DepEd is also opening the Oplan Balik Eskwela

Command Center in its main office in Pasig to help parents get their children to school. 

Similar action centers are also open in various regional, provincial, and city offices of DepEd. 

The public may call (02) 636-1663 and (02) 638-7529 to 31 for assistance.

2 M to enter college today

More than two million college students will enter more than 1,690 private and state universities and colleges today.

Emmanuel Angeles, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman, said they expect a smooth and orderly opening in more than 95 percent of the 1,781 colleges and universities nationwide.

“Everybody’s ready,” he said. “Schools have been preparing for the opening of classes during the summer. “They have been ready for a long time.”

CHED has noted less than five percent of colleges and universities deviating from the recommended school opening on the first Monday of June, he added.

Angeles urged all incoming freshmen college students and those going back to school to be alert, and be safety and security conscious as they go to their respective schools.

“They should be alert. Beware of pickpockets,” he said.

Angeles said that students should make sure that they stay in dormitories that are safe.

“Avoid overcrowded ones,” he said.

Local governments can coordinate with colleges and universities within their jurisdictions to identify overcrowded dormitories with decrepit facilities, Angeles said. – With Rainier Allan Ronda