PARENTS and guardians are urged to take advantage of the early registration of school-age students for the selected grade levels for the upcoming school year 2024-2025 in July.
Director Salustiano Jimenez of the Department of Education Central Visayas (DepEd 7), emphasized the importance of the ongoing early registration for incoming Kindergarten, Grades 1, 7, and 11 learners in public schools. The early registration started last January 27 and will end on February 23, 2024.
Jimenez told SunStar Cebu on Friday, February 2, initiative aims to ensure that schools are adequately prepared to accommodate incoming students, prompting the early registration period for specific grade levels before the start of the academic year.
"We hope that the parents and guardians will enroll their children as early as now, so we can already get the enrollment data as a basis of the determination of needs and classrooms," the education official said.
He added that they are expecting a two percent increase in student enrollees in the upcoming school, which he said is the average growth rate of students enrolled in Central Visayas in recent years.
During his State of the Region address last January, Jimenez stated that there are at least 2,088,000 students enrolled in basic education in Central Visayas for the current school year 2023-2024 across its 20 school divisions. The two percent of the figure translates into approximately 41,760 new enrollees.
The school divisions in Central Visayas are Bohol Province, Tagbilaran City, Siquijor Province, Bais City, Bayawan City, Canlaon City, Dumaguete City, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental Province, Tanjay City, Bogo City, Danao City, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu City, Cebu Province, Talisay City, City of Naga, Carcar City, and Toledo City.
Early registration
Under the Basic Education Enrollment Policy outlined in DepEd Order No. 3 series of 2018, early registration in public schools is scheduled "from the last Saturday of January to the last Friday of February of each year."
Early registration pertains to the pre-registration of incoming Kindergarten, Grades 1, 7, and 11 learners, occurring before the commencement of classes. Meanwhile, other grade levels are already considered "pre-registered" according to DepEd's policy.
The DepEd order said that the primary objective of early registration is to ensure that all new entrants for Kindergarten, Grades 1, 7, and 11 are registered for the upcoming school year.
Additionally, it aims to identify and register out-of-school children and youth in the community who may face various challenges, including disabilities, geographical isolation, displacement due to disasters or conflicts, health issues, economic exploitation, and other vulnerabilities.
In terms of logistics, DepEd prefers early registration to be conducted through a face-to-face process with schools for the current school year. This approach facilitates direct communication and ensures the accurate registration of students, especially those facing additional challenges in accessing education.
They clarified its enrollment policy, emphasizing the importance of adherence to existing regulations governing the enrollment process in both public and private schools, as well as state and local universities and colleges offering basic education programs.
DepEd stressed that while its policy aims to ensure that all learners are accommodated in basic education, it is essential for institutions to uphold minimum eligibility and documentary requirements to verify the identity of learners.
During the early registration period, which caters to learners aged 6 to 12 enrolling in basic education for the first time, enrollment in specific grade levels is determined based on eligibility criteria.
For instance, enrolling for Kindergarten must be aged five years old by August 31 of the school year they will enroll in. Parents are required to submit a copy of the birth certificate of the learner from the Philippines Statistics Authority.
Learners seeking enrollment in Grade 1 must have completed the Kindergarten Catch-up Education Program as the agency will be requiring a certificate of completion from them. Additionally, a Philippine Educational Placement Test result is required for learners to be registered in the appropriate grade level.
DepEd also outlined guidelines for learners aged 13 and above who are entering basic education for the first time. Such learners are advised to undergo the Alternative Learning System program as part of their enrollment process.
Opening of classes
Meanwhile, Jimenez earlier said that they are gradually moving towards returning to the June to March school calendar, years after introducing the new school calendar from August to May.
The decision to revert the start of the school year to June is in response to numerous complaints about the difficulties of conducting classes during the scorching summer months. Filipinos consider March to May to be the summer months.
The objective is to relieve the strain on students, teachers, and educational institutions contending with difficulties caused by intense heat and other climatic factors affecting the learning environment.
"Our classrooms are not designed for summer. We did not design it for extreme heat, especially when our heat index reaches 34 to 38 degrees Celsius. If that is the scenario, it will be hot and our learners cannot concentrate on their studies," Jimenez said.