MORE students have enrolled in public schools in Central Visayas for school year 2020-2021 compared to last year.
According to the latest tally of the Department of Education (DepEd) 7, the region has 1,759,718 public school enrollees.
DepEd 7 Director Salustiano Jimenez said 24,000 students are transferees from private schools.
Enrollment in private schools stands at 181,293, he said.
In an earlier report, 23 private schools in Cebu, one in Bohol and one in Negros Oriental were forced to temporarily stop operations due to low enrollment.
In Cebu City, DepEd recorded 209,000 students enrolled in pre-school to senior high school.
DepEd Cebu City Division Supt. Rhea Mar Angtud said online classes are all set for the public school opening nationwide on Monday, Oct. 5, while the distribution of learning modules is still ongoing.
Angtud said modules 1-2 for all subjects have been distributed to all grade school students, while they are still finalizing the distribution of modules 3-4.
With the new distance learning setup, Labella said the City is conducting a pilot study on the use of laptops and tablets through the establishment of an education electronic library.
He said they’re also studying whether to allow students who opted for the online class scheme to borrow tablets from the schools.
The DepEd Mandaue City Division is also set for Oct. 5.
Division Supt. Nimfa Bongo told SunStar Cebu that all the modules for the first week of classes were distributed to parents on Oct. 1 and 2.
She said the 67,851 students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in the city have received the modules.
She said their television-based and radio-based learning instructions are also ready.
According to Bongo, her office is waiting for the DepEd 7 to upload the lessons.
The materials will be made available on SkyCable and radio dyHP for kindergarten up to Grade 2 students and IBC Channel 13 DepEdTV for all school levels.
Nationwide, it’s back to school for more than 24 million students on Oct. 5, nearly seven months after classes were suspended in the National Capital Region and later in the rest of the country.
But instead of physically going to school, K-to-12 (kindergarten to Grade 12) students and higher education students will be studying from home.
This is in compliance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to prohibit face-to-face learning sessions until a vaccine against Covid-19 becomes available.
Under its Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan, which was drawn up to respond to the challenges spawned by the health crisis, the DepEd will implement distance learning to ensure the safety of students, teachers and other stakeholders.
DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones has declared that they are ready, saying simulation of distance learning methods has been successful.
In a statement, DepEd said a simultaneous flag-raising ceremony nationwide at 7:30 a.m. Monday will kick off the opening of school year 2020-2021.
DepEd will livestream an inspirational message from Briones, who will also formally declare the opening of the new school year.
DepEd’s executive committee members as well as service and bureau directors will be on the ground to give live updates on the implementation of distance learning during the first day of classes in different field offices or schools that they will visit.
Under DepEd Order 30-2020, school year 2020-2021 will have 205 class days and will end on June 11, 2021. Distance learning classes may be held on Saturdays or Sundays.
Remedial, advancement and enrichment classes during “summer” will be held from June 14 to July 23, 2021.
DepEd also issued the guidelines for assessment and grading under the learning continuity plan.
Classes in public elementary and secondary schools were supposed to start on Aug. 24, but Duterte, on July 17, signed Republic Act (RA) 11480, which gave him power to set a different date for classes nationwide during times of emergency or calamity.
RA 11480 amended RA 7797 that set the start of the school year “on the first Monday of June but not later than the last day of August.”
This new law covers all elementary and high schools in the country, including foreign and international schools. (WBS, JJL, KFD, MVI / SunStar Philippines)