Pandemic fueling migration from private to public schools

MANILA, Philippines — Economic issues due to the pandemic have fueled the migration of both learners and teachers from private institutions to the public sector.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones lamented that the enrollment of private schools has been very slow, with only over 164,922 learners enrolled so far.

Data from the Department of Education (DepEd) showed that total enrollment stands at 7.911 million.

Early registration is at the 4.5 million mark, while public school enrollment is at 3.1 million.

“The numbers very clearly show that we need to encourage those in private schools also, as we see the migration of learners from private schools to public schools. We want to remain faithful to the constitutional mandate to the complementarity of public and private education,” she said at a virtual press briefing.

Briones said they support initiatives by the national government to reopen economic activities to support the parents of its learners.

“As the economy hopefully progresses we look forward to increased enrollment for parents who will be able to send their children to their preferred schools. We seek your help in our campaign for learners to go back to school,” she added.

DepEd said that it hopes to match the enrollment numbers last year, estimated at 26 million learners, but Briones said that the economic state has an effect on the status of the enrollment.

She noted that the National Capital Region (NCR), the nerve center of the country, has been adversely affected by the pandemic.

“We would be happy if we can match last year’s enrollment numbers. As we can see, enrollment as of Aug. 24 in public schools is 3.1 million, at private schools it’s 164,000. It’s related to the state of the economy, particularly in NCR,” she added.

With the reopening of industries, Briones said she hopes it can pull up the enrollment numbers of both teachers and learners in the country.

The department head said they encourage parents to enroll their children as soon as they can and not wait until the last minute.

Data allocations

DepEd teachers and personnel will start to receive their regular monthly loads following the successful distribution of sim cards to the field offices.

DepEd said that the cycle of regular loads started on Aug. 3 for the 277,381 sim card recipients who started using their connectivity loads in July.

The rest of the total one million beneficiaries will receive their monthly load today.

“This is part of our commitment to deliver the promises of the Bayanihan 2 Act to our personnel. Given the situation, we recognize the need to provide connectivity load for our teachers as support for their passion in teaching amidst the pandemic,” Briones said.

Teachers and personnel will receive a total of 102GB of data that will be rationed over three months at 34GB per month.

Tax relief

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives approved, on third and final reading on Monday, a bill that would define tax rates for proprietary private schools that would allow them to get the government’s 10 percent preferential rate on taxable income.

Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved House Bill 9913, which will also allow schools to avail of the one percent special tax rate until 2023. This measure reduced to one percent from July 2020 to June 2023 the previous 10 percent imposed on proprietary educational institutions.

“That is the largest ever tax cut to any sector in the country’s history, and I am proud that we will do it for the sector the 1987 Constitution values the most – the education sector,” Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, chairman of the House ways and means committee, said. – Delon Porcalla