THE Department of Education (DepEd) 7 is still halfway through its target number of enrollees for school year 2024-2025.
With nearly a million students enrolled in the region less than a week before the start of the classes on Monday, July 29, DepEd 7 is still far from its target enrollment of around two million learners.
“We do hope that we are able to reach that though as early as now, we are nearly a million already based on our data,” said DepEd 7 Director Salustiano Jimenez in an interview on Monday.
Jimenez said early enrollment began yet in May and DepEd 7 continues to call on parents and guardians to enroll their children to bring the region closer to its target.
“I hope that they will also help DepEd because their help in the enrollment is not only for DepEd; but first and foremost, it is for the welfare of their children,” Jimenez said in Cebuano.
Deadline
Jimenez explained that the official deadline as listed in the DepEd portal is on Friday, July 26. But enrollment will continue to accommodate more students.
“This will have a lot of effects because first, there is a cut off. For example, the deadline of enrollment is July 26. After that, the portal will close which will have data on how many enrollments there are which will be the basis for our budget,” he said.
“The Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) budget in the school is based on the number of learners,” added Jimenez.
Students who enroll after the cut off date will no longer be included in the school’s budget and will have to share with the available budget that was based on the portal’s data upon deadline.
Jimenez said late enrollment can also lead to a lack of teachers in public schools and sometimes, shifting schedules due to a shortage of classrooms. / CDF