File photo
File photo

63,000 students enrolled

AS THE enrollment for the elementary level starts, the Department of Education in Davao Region (DepEd Davao) is optimistic that the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic will not affect the number of enrollees for this school year.

DepEd-Davao spokesperson Jenielito Atillo said about 63,079 pupils were already enrolled as of June 2, the second day of the enrollment period.

"This is from only seven DepEd Schools Division Offices kay dili pa available katong report sa upat pa ka Deped field offices (because we have yet to receive the reports from the remaining four field offices)," he said.

He said it will still increase since the enrollment will still be up to the last day of June.

Atillo said they are targeting to reach the same number of enrollees from the school year 2019 to 2020 which is at 1,161,883 students in Kindergarten to Senior High School (SHS).

"We are hoping that we can have the same number if matapos na ning enrollment procedure nato," he said.

"There is still a long way to go but we are really quite positive that Covid 19 will not, in any way, affect the number of learners for this school year," he added.

Atillo also assured the parents that their children will be safe as they strictly implement the no face-to-face policy of the agency.

"We offered a lot of modalities to the students minus the face-to-face. Padayon ang edukasyon ug dili kini mabalda o mapakgang (Education will still continue)," he said.

"Katong gikabalak-an sa mga ginikanan nga basi vulnerable unya ang ilang mga kabataan, you can weed that one out already because the face-to-face is currently being set aside. The order of the president is katong wala sa gyud tay presensya diha sulod sa classroom unless and until the vaccine is already available (You should stop worrying about your children getting infected because there will be no face-to-face setup as ordered by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte)," he added.

Atillo said they implemented a no face-to-face enrollment from June 1 to end on June 12.

"Ang gisiguro namo nga ang first two weeks of the enrollment, wala sa tay presence didto sa mga eskwelahan because we wanted to contribute to the solution of Covid-19. Paningkamutan namo nga ang enrollment procedure matapos gyud nato for two weeks lang (We ensure that there will be no physical enrollment in schools and we hope to finish it in two weeks)," he said.

However, they will also conduct physical enrollment on the third week intended to cater to students who do not have access to the internet or gadgets.

"Naa man gihapon tay physical enrollment nga mahitabo on the third week na pero kinahanglan bantayan katong health protocols. We are very strict with that (We will conduct enrollment in schools on the third week and we will strictly follow the health protocols)," he said.

Atillo said the agency is also conducting a survey among the parents to know what learning modalities are appropriate for a particular student.

"Naa ba siyay kapasidad mag online, mag modular ba siya, or we will avail of other means like the broadcast facilities of the government if need be (We want to know if they can do online learning or use a modular method, or if we in the agency need to use the broadcast facilities of the government)," he said.

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