AROUND 400,000 students from public schools in Negros Occidental will return to school today, June 4, for the opening of the school year 2018-2019.
Dr. Portia Mallorca, schools division superintendent of Department of Education (DepEd) in Negros Occidental, said there is an increase of 2,000 students this year, from 395,000 enrollees last year to 397,703 students this year.
DepEd records showed that 28,999 will enter kindergarten; 45,857 in Grade 1; 43,181 Grade 2; 41,394 Grade 3; 38,886 Grade 4; 35,196 Grade 5; and 32,221 in Grade 6.
For the high school level, 29,401 students were enrolled in Grade 7; 26,599 in Grade 8; 24,032 in Grade 9; and 21,593 in Grade 10.
Under senior high school, there are 15,561 students enrolled in Grade 11 and 14,802 in Grade 12.
The Division of Negros Occidental covers all municipalities in the province as well as the cities of Sipalay and Himamaylan which will still be separated from the division starting the incoming school year.
All cities have separate divisions.
Mallorca said there were students who were already included in the early registration but will only be confirmed based on their attendance on the first day of classes today.
Meanwhile, Mallorca reminded teachers that there will be no more cleaning on the first day of classes.
"All students should be inside the classrooms while teachers start their lessons," she emphasized.
Moreover, there are 135 out of 192 new classrooms in the Negros Occidental Schools Division that will not be ready for use today.
Mallorca said measures are in place to ensure that classes will not be disrupted even with the delay in the completion of the classrooms.
Police is ready, too.
The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) and the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) will deploy personnel to assist students on the opening of classes today.
Senior Inspector Armilyn Vargas, public information officer of BCPO, said yesterday, June 3, that two personnel will be assigned in each police assistance desks that will be placed in every school in the city.
Policemen will also help traffic enforcers in addressing the congestion.
Vargas said police officers will be deployed on the streets and schools as early as 6 a.m.
She said policemen will also conduct anti-bullying talks and dialogues with the students in all schools.
For her part, Inspector Charmae De Paz, public information officer of Nocppo, said personnel from police stations will also be deployed to schools to provide security and maintain peace and order.
They will also resume the conduct of symposiums about crime prevention, dangers of illegal drugs, and other laws to inform students, in coordination with the Department of Education (DepEd).
(Rainy season)
Meanwhile, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) advised the public to prepare for the start of the rainy season.
Zeaphard Gerhart Caelian, head of Negros Occidental Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Division, said that per advisory of the weather bureau for the Special Weather Outlook for the opening of classes, combined effects of the inter-tropical convergence zone and low pressure area over the West Philippine Sea will bring occasional rain showers and thunderstorms over the Visayas.
Two low pressure areas (LPA) have also been spotted by Pagasa, located east and west of the country.
Two LPAs may develop into tropical cyclones this weekend or early this week which could trigger the onset of the rainy season, the weather bureau said.