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As of Sept. 13, the day basic education classes in the Philippines opened, over 26 million students have enrolled in public and private schools nationwide, data from the Department of Education (DepEd) showed.
According to DepEd data, 24,603,822 students have enrolled nationwide.
Of the total, 18,561,298 were enrolled in public schools and 1,443,849 were enrolled in private schools.
The total enrollee count was about two million short, or 93.8 percent of last year’s total. Over 26.22 million students enrolled for School Year 2020-2021.
Enrollment was originally scheduled from June 1 to 30 only. DepEd extended the window up to July 15 to accommodate more enrollees.
Among Philippine regions, Metro Manila saw the steepest decline in enrollee numbers. Only 83.8 percent of students who enrolled in the previous school year enrolled this year.
Enrollment was up in Region 2, Region 4-B, Region 10, Region 12, the Bangsamoro Region and the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo said on Monday that enrollment in public schools would be opened until Sept. 30, 2021. John Ezekiel J. Hirro