DepEd projects 20% drop in enrollment

The Department of Education (DepEd) is projecting a 20 percent drop in the number of students who will enroll in basic education next school year.

In an online press briefing yesterday, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said their initial projections show that the enrollment would not reach 27 million like last year due to the economic situation caused by the coronavirus disease pandemic.

“We really expect that we would not reach 27 million. We have a different projection,” Briones said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“We’re having negative (economic) growth this year and probably the following year based on… projections. That is a big thing,” she added.

Asked how many students they are expecting next school year, Education Undersecretary for planning service and field operations Jesus Mateo said their projection is 80 percent of the enrollment last school year.

At 27 million last year, that would mean only around 21.6 million students might enroll next school year, which is expected to largely forgo face-to-face classes due to the pandemic.

The bulk of the enrollment last year was in public schools, with over 22 million students.

Mateo said they have already reached 70 percent of the enrollment in public schools, with 15.8 million expressing their intent to enroll as of yesterday morning.

Some 706,000 students also intend to study in private schools, significantly lower than the four million students enrolled in private basic education institutions last year.

DepEd has extended the enrollment period until July 15.

On the situation of private schools, Briones said the low enrollment figure might be due to the late submission of data to DepEd.

She also highlighted the economic impact of the pandemic, noting the possibility of parents transferring their children to public schools or waiting for better terms such as more reasonable tuition rates in private schools.

Various groups have repeatedly warned that millions of students might be disenfranchised if classes would push through next school year.

But according to Briones, the DepEd has the alternative learning system to accommodate students who would not be able to enroll in the formal education system next school year.

Encouraging parents

Despite the lower enrollment projection, education officials are still hopeful that parents will eventually decide to enroll their children.

“We hope that it would be higher than the 80 percent that we are targeting. Cooperation is really important to convince our parents that it is safe to go to school,” said Mateo, reiterating that face-to-face classes are suspended.

He also underscored the need to reach those in remote areas, stressing the importance of engaging with local government units and other stakeholders to ensure that no student is left behind.

Briones said one of the major challenges that they face is the spread of false information about the upcoming school year.

A lot of people, she said, still believe that physical classes would be conducted despite repeated assurances from the government that the traditional face-to-face learning is suspended.

The DepEd chief added that blended learning is not limited to online classes, reiterating their previous statement that parents do not have to buy new gadgets for their children.

Aside from online classes, the agency also intends to adopt modules, television and radio to deliver content to the students.

Data released by the agency showed that over 3.8 million households prefer to use modules next school year, followed by more than two million who chose online learning.