DepEd chief wants extension of enrolment

MANILA, Philippines - Education Secretary Mona Dumlao-Valisno has ordered that the enrolment or registration of students in public schools be extended up to the end of the month in a bid to attract out-of-school youths (OSYs) to resume their studies.

Valisno assured the public that the Department of Education (DepEd) will be ready with placement tests to determine at what grade or year level the OSYs could be absorbed back into the formal education system in public schools.

“We want all those school-age children and out-of-school youths to go back to school. They can register to go to school in public schools all over the country until June 30,” Valisno told The STAR in an interview yesterday.

The enrollment period was supposed to have ended on June 15, when classes started for the current school year.

She said the DepEd’s National Education Testing and Research Center (NETRC), which she set up in the late 1970s when she was still a DepEd career officer, has already prepared the placement tests that will be given in schools.

As founding director of the NETRC, Valisno was the one who formulated the first series of Philippine Education Placement or PEP tests that enabled OSYs to re-enter the formal education system, either at the high school or college level.

Valisno said public school heads have been told to be liberal in their admission, and accept even those who have incomplete records or documents.

“Our goal here is to admit as many students as we can, regardless of their previous school records or status,” she said.

Valisno said the DepEd is determined to attain the Education for All targets set under the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations for 2015.

She said there are many as 10 million school-age children and teenagers who have dropped out of school and “we want to give them an opportunity to go back to school.”

Through the extended registration period, Valisno said the DepEd is eyeing to admit as many as one million students, a figure she believes is perhaps “good enough in this effort.”

She brushed off concerns the additional students could no longer be admitted in public schools already coping with classroom-student ratios of 1:60.

“I’m appealing to our public school teachers and principals to be creative and innovative in making sure we accommodate all those who enroll. We have a menu of teaching methods that they can apply. Similarly, there are various means our school heads can do to manage large school populations,” Valisno said.

She urged school heads to work with the community and the private sector to deal with the extended enrollment.

Currently, the DepEd is fighting to maintain high participation and completion rates among students in public schools through several programs like the Open High School Program, the Effective Alternative Secondary Education, and the Schools-Initiated Interventions.

There are also alternative delivery modes like the Modified In-School/Out-School Approach, parent-assisted learning, and multi-grade education.

For OSYs, they will be given the accreditation and equivalency test under the DepEd’s Alternative Learning System to get them back into the formal education system.