DepEd to accept late enrollees until Nov. 21; says no internet allowance for teachers
MANILA, Philippines — The education department said Monday that it will accept late enrollees for the new school year until late November, as officials note a decrease in private school and alternative learning students.
Secretary Leonor Briones at a Laging Handa briefing said a total of 24,753,906 have so far enrolled under DepEd's blended learning due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This is an 89% increase in enrollment despite the ongoing public health crisis, she added.
But the turnout in private schools has dropped to 2.1 million this 2020 from 4.3 million students in 2019, in what officials have long attributed as an impact of the COVID-19.
Students under the alternative learning system have also gone down by half as many were displaced from their jobs and thus lost the means to return to school.
The education chief, however, said that the figure may still go up with parents slowly returning to work, which will mean additional income.
"Dahil unti-unti nang binubuksan ang ekonomiya ay magkakaroon na ng trabaho ang parents at makakayanan na nila mapag-aral ang kanilang mga anak," Briones said.
(With the economy slowly reopening, parents will resume their work and they would be able to provide for their children's needs in education.)
DepEd said it is trying to reach out to those unable to enroll and will accept them until November 21.
School Year 2020 to 2021 officially began Monday, with Briones triumphing a victory in pushing for the reopening of classes against the virus that has gripped the country hard.
President Rodrigo Duterte had long dismissed proposals to hold face-to-face classes until a vaccine has been developed. But on Sunday, Vice President Leni Robredo suggested a short schedule of conducting such on communities with low recorded transmission of the virus.
No internet allowance for teachers
Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla at a separate briefing admitted that there is no set aid for teachers for their internet or mobile data connection under the still operating 2020 budget, which did not foresee an eventual pandemic.
"We have an existing budget and we will work from that, subject to budget and accounting rules and regulation," she said. "We do not have the allowance as it is not authorized in the 2020 budget so we have to wait for 2021."
Sevilla, DepEd's undersecretary for finance, added that the House is still set to hear deliberations for its proposed budget on Thursday.
Still, the department said it has mechanisms to ensure that school principals and superintendents would be able to assist in providing communication expenses for teachers. — Christian Deiparine
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