CUT-OFF AGE POLICY FOR KINDERGARTEN

LORNA Q. MANALASTAS

The Department of Education (DepEd) has issued the “Amendment to DepEd Order No. 47, S. 2016, Otherwise Known as the ‘Omnibus Policy on Kindergarten Education,’Clarifying that the Cut-Off Age Policy is Applicable to Both Public and Private School and Providing for Transitory Provisions to Accommodate Kindergarten and Grade One Enrollees for SY 2018-2019 and SY 2019-2020 Who may be Affected by This Policy, and for Other Purposes.”

This means that children who are five years old by June 1 of every calendar year shall be accepted in Kindergarten by both public and private schools following

The Department issued the amendment, also known as DepEd Order No. 20, series 2018 (DO 20), to emphasize that the application of the cut-off age applies to both public and private schools, and in exercise of its authority vested by Republic Act 10157 (An Act Institutionalizing the Kindergarten Education into the Basic Education System and Appropriating Funds Therefor) to regulate the organization, operation and/ or implementation of the Kindergarten program for both public and private schools.

“We are issuing this amended enrollment procedure to address the concern of parents while ensuring that our Kindergarten learners are holistically prepared to face the expectations of the grade level,” Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones pointed out.

The Kindergarten curriculum is designed to respond to the holistic developmental needs of five-year-old learners, along with socio-emotional, values, physical health, creative, mathematics, understanding of the physical and natural environment, language, literacy, and communication development. Moreover, the first quarter of the curriculum is structured to strengthen the learners’preparation to meet the Kindergarten learning standards.

Nonetheless, learners entering Kindergarten who will turn five years old by the end of August may be considered by schools provided that they are administered with the Philippine Early Childhood Development (ECD) checklist before the school year opens.

Recognizing the difference in school year opening among schools, DO 20 provided for adjustments in the age cut-off period. Thereby, Kindergarten learners should be five years old by July 1, with an extension period until September 30, if their schools open the school year in July; and by August 1, with an extension period until October 31, if their schools open the school year in August.

By SY 2020-2021, strict compliance to DO 20’s amended enrollment procedure shall be imposed on all incoming Kindergarten and Grade 1 learners.

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The author is Teacher II at San Fernando Elementary School