According to the Department of Education’s Learner Information System, the total number of enrolled students as of September 6 is 25.9 million, which is a whopping three million short of DepEd’s 28.8 million enrollment target for school year 2023-24.
Nearly a month has passed since enrollment in public and private schools all over the country started, and the DepEd is still way off target, but the good news is that schools will still be accepting enrollees until the end of the Month, according to DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Cesar Bringas.
“Given the recent disruptions due to tropical storms and etc., the numbers are still moving until now. Schools are still reporting to the LIS, and once 100 percent of schools have reported, the enrollment will close and we will have the official number for this school year,” he told reporters.
Aside from that, Bringas acknowledged that many students may have opted not to enroll this year and that the DepEd would be presenting them with alternatives to continue their schooling.
“The reason for not enrolling is not because they are displaced. The public schools do not refuse enrollment. Once LIS closes this month, schools will employ child-find procedures to determine reasons for not returning to school,” he said.
ACT Teachers party list Rep. France Castro has expressed alarm over the 3 million drop in enrollment, and has called on Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte to explain the worrisome trend. “Our children’s future is at stake, and we cannot allow any child to be left behind. We call on the VP and Department of Education to concentrate more on this problem rather than the surveillance of their perceived enemies,” she said.
In Negros Occidental, DepEd reported a drop of about 13 percent in the number of enrollees, equivalent to 43,000 students, which has been a cause of concern for Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson.
Aside from extending the enrollment period, it is not really clear what other strategies DepEd has formulated to make up for this significant and worrying drop. If it’s any consolation, this serious problem of the educational system would be a great opportunity for the government agency responsible to make good use of its intelligence funds to find those 13 million missing Filipino students and coax them back to school.*
