ILOILO City – For school year 2023-2024 in Western Visayas, 430,845 learners have enrolled.
Of these enrollees, 396,259 are in public schools, 34,226 in private schools, and 360 in state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs), data from the Department of Education (DepEd) Region 6 showed as of 9 a.m. yesterday.
Below is the breakdown per grade level:
* Kindergarten – 28,047
* Grade 1 – 32,165
* Grade 2 – 34,633
* Grade 3 – 34,794
* Grade 4 – 32,149
* Grade 5 – 36,598
* Grade 6 – 35,701
* Grade 7 – 32,694
* Grade 8 – 31,183
* Grade 9 – 32,925
* Grade 10 – 31,526
* Grade 11 – 34,402
* Grade 12 – 32,735
Hernani Escullar Jr., DepEd-6 information officer, said 1,293 enrolled learners had not indicated their grade level; parents may have forgotten to write them down.
Escullar reminds parents or guardians to enroll as early as possible to avoid overcrowding by Aug. 26.
Enrollment ends on Aug. 26, as stated in DepEd Memorandum No. 043, Series of 2023 (Guidance on the Conduct of Enrollment for School Year 2023-2024), issued by Undersecretary Michael Wesley T. Poa on Aug. 4.
Parents or guardians may visit schools from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to fill out the Basic Education Enrollment Form (BEEF) with a copy of the student’s birth certificate attached.
What happens if learners can’t enroll before deadline?
Escullar said they will wait for further announcements from the DepEd central office.
“As much as possible, we really want to tap all our learners for this year nga makapa-enroll gid,” Escullar also said.
As of February 2023, there were 2,087,486 enrolled learners in the region: public schools – 1,886,720; private schools – 197,171, and SUCs and LUCs – 3,595, DepEd-6 data showed.
But Escullar explained that some private schools already started classes. What is important, he added, is that private schools meet the required number of school calendar days and must be approved by DepEd.
“Pursuant to Republic Act No. 11480, otherwise known as An Act to Lengthen the School Calendar from 200 days to not more than 220 class days, the SY 2023-2024 shall formally open on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, and end on Friday, June 14, 2024, inclusive of the end-of-the-school-year rites,” read part of the DepEd Order No. 022, Series of 2023 titled “Implementing Guidelines on the School Calendar and Activities for the School Year 2023-2024” signed by DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte.
It added: “For the Alternative Learning System, learning intervention shall formally open on the same date as the public formal basic education, Aug. 29, 2023. The program duration shall depend on the learners’ individual learning agreements based on the results of the pre-assessments and the recognition of their prior learning.”
It further said: “Private schools and state/local universities and colleges may adopt these omnibus implementing guidelines on the school calendar and shall follow the provisions stipulated under RA 11480 concerning the required number of class days and the opening of the school year. Schools shall report any inevitable deviation from these guidelines in advance to their respective regional offices.”/PN
