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August 11, 2022 – The Department of Education (DepEd) has encouraged parents and guardians to enroll their children for School Year (SY) 2022-2023 as enrollment figures reached 19.26 million on Thursday nearing the August 22 school opening.

“Gusto pa nating anyayahan ‘yong ating mga magulang na hindi pa po na-e-enroll ang kanilang anak sa mga eskwela na i-enrol na natin sila,” DepEd Spokesperson Atty. Michael Wesley Poa said during the joint press briefing with the Office of the Vice President (OVP) on Wednesday.

“Sana po maiwasan natin iyan (na mahabol ang last day), makapag-enroll ngayon sa lalong madaling panahon para maihanda rin ng Department of Education base doon sa actual expected learners natin ‘yong ating paaralan,” Atty. Poa added.

The updated enrollment data is already 69.89% of the 27.5 million learners recorded in the enrollment of School Year 2021-2022 and is near the target of 28.6 million for this SY.

Atty. Poa emphasized that there was a big difference in the turnout compared to the previous school year.

“’Yong first week po natin last year was around 2.4 million enrolled learners for the first week of enrollment. This year, mayroon na po tayong 10.4 million enrollees doon pa lang sa first week,” Poa noted.

On the other hand, Poa highlighted the agency’s experiences in the previous years with parents still enrolling their children on the last day and even as classes are ongoing.

With the ongoing public health situation; the aftermath of the Northern Luzon earthquake; and the shortage of classrooms, especially in Metro Manila and CALABARZON; among others; Poa stressed that “we have strategies for that but for the strategies to be effective, we need to get concrete numbers kung ilan talaga yung in-e-expect na mga learners per school.”

Furthermore, the Department, partner agencies from the public and private sectors, and other stakeholders will also launch the Public Assistance Command Center (PACC) on August 15, 2022, to manage the public’s concerns and issues regarding the opening of classes.

“The opening of classes will not be without challenges but if we can help each other, tulong-tulong po tayo, masisiguro natin ang ligtas na pagbabalik-eskwela ng ating mga learners,” Poa said.

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