21.7M learners enrolled for incoming school year

THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) reported Tuesday that 21,724,454 learners have enrolled in public and private schools nationwide for the academic year 2020-2021.  

Data from the department shows that as of July 21, about 20,475,530 learners have enrolled in public schools and 1,219,094 in private schools.

Region 4-A (Calabarzon) logged the highest number of enrollees at 2,951,330, and the Cordillera Administrative Region, the lowest at 333,840.

The enrollees were from kindergarten to senior high school, as well as learners with disabilities and those taking the alternative learning system.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones said the total number of enrollees in public and private schools is 77 percent of the total number of students for the school year 2019 to 2020.

"Sa public 90 percent of the students last year ang naabot natin. Ang ating problem ay with our private school enrollees kasi (In public schools, we have reached 90 percent of the students last year. Our problem is with our private school enrollees because) only 27 percent have returned. And, we now have this what I describe a phenomenon of private school students migrating to the public schools," Briones said during the meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on Monday but was aired Tuesday morning.

She added that the number of private school students who transferred to public schools is now at 347,860.

"And, this is because private schools have been affected by the downturn of the economy. The parents who lost their jobs can no longer fund the studies of their children," Briones said. (By Ma. Teresa Montemayor)