According to figures from the Department of Education (DepEd), enrollment in kindergarten to senior high school dropped more than 25 percent for this school year.

As of July 15, the enrollment deadline, only 20.11 million public and private school students enrolled for the coming school year. This was only 72.7 percent of the enrollment figure for the last school year, which saw 27.77 million students enrolled.

Out of the 20.11 million enrolled, 19.14 million of them are public school students and 1.5 million are private school students. This number also includes alternative learners and persons with disabilities.

Private schools registered the biggest decline in enrollment, with 300,000 students transferring to public schools due to financial issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of students enrolled was only 24.3 percent of last school year’s enrollment figure.

[READ: 250,000 private school students transferred to public school. Reason? Economic downturn]

DepEd Undersecretary Jesus Mateo attributed the drop in enrollments due to the pandemic. In an earlier statement, DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones cited the economic downturn as the reason behind the transfer rate from private to public schools.

For people expressing concerns on “blended learning,” Briones clarified that they will not be forcing students to go online if they are unable to. Other options like television and radio are available, while learning supplements are available for download.

“Learning will continue. With COVID or no COVID, with economic difficulty or no economic difficulty, with typhoon, earthquake or floods, education will continue,” Briones added.

[READ: Can TV-radios be the new classroom? DepEd to broadcast modules for blended learning, says Gatchalian]

DepEd noted that late enrollees for this coming school year will be accepted until the last week of September, provided they meet 80 percent of the prescribed number of school days and quarterly requirements to pass previous grade levels.

Header photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash

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