THE Department of Education-Davao Region (DepEd-Davao) affirmed that public schools administrators have the right to refuse admission, especially those who intend to enroll themselves beyond the given deadline.
“We need to reiterate that there is no truth to that belief that public schools cannot say no. We can say no to them if the reason is too much population (over-population) because that is going to be a human aspect of things. We do not want the children [to experience] having problems with space. That would be inhumane,” DepEd-Davao spokesperson Jenielito Atillo said on Wednesday’s AFP-PNP Press Conference, August 30, 2023.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson clarified that despite the non-existence of such a policy on refusal, decisions shall always depend on the principals or high-ranking school officials to protect the welfare of every student.
“Even if we have no policy on general refusal, there is an exception to that general rule. The exception is, if wa man nay kabutangan, or kalingkuran, [and] magmugna na noon og problema ang imohang pagdawat, say no,” (Even if we have no policy on general refusal, there is an exception to that general rule. The exception is, if there are no seats available for the students and if the admission creates another problem, [then] say no),” he added.
This approach aims to curb the problem of “overpopulation in a school” and provide a solution to the problem. Atillo underscored that schools should refer the students to other school that is near their vicinity.
Based on the report, Atillo cited Magallanes Elementary School, Kapitan Tomas Elementary School, Davao City National High School, and Sta. Ana High School as four of the schools in downtown areas that are usually heavily populated with students. He said this is despite the announcements they have made to the parents to enroll their children in institutions near them to avoid being late and at the same time save money.
“We cannot force them (parents) on what schools they want for their children but we would like to appeal to them to really reflect on all of these negative effects because if they would not respond on conformity, there will be an abnormal scarcity of things,” he said.
The first day of classes for the academic year 2023-2024 started on Tuesday, August 29, this year with 1,360,229 million students enrolled, or 86.7 percent, compared to the 1.4 million enrollees in last year’s opening of classes.
This year’s opening of classes received generally peaceful remarks as DepEd-Davao has not logged any crime incidents in every school premise in the city both in elementary and secondary programs. DEF