DepEd expects 2.4 million enrolled learners for school year 2019-2020

Guests from the Department of Education Central Visayas (DepEd-7) and Commission on Higher Education Central Visayas (Ched-7) discuss preparations for the opening of the new school year and the Brigada Eskwela program on Tuesday, May 21 at the DepEd Conference Room in Lahug, Cebu City.  The guests are Dr. Salustiano Jimenez, DepEd-7 assistant regional director (second from left); Dr. Juliet Jeruta, regional director of DepEd-7 (center); and Dr. Josefino Ronquillo, supervising educational program specialist of Ched-7 (second from right). | CDND PHOTO / Futch Inso

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Department of Education in Central Visayas (DepEd-7) is expecting  between 2.3 million to 2.4 million learners to be enrolled in kindergarten, elementary and high school in various public and privates schools in the region.

Dr. Salustiano Jimenez, assistant regional director of DepEd-7, said the region has recorded a total 417,000 enrollees based on the early enrollment tally as of March 2019.

The number is still expected to increase as most public schools are still accepting enrollees for the school year 2019 to 2020.

“So the enrollees in Kinder will automatically be enrolled in Grade 1. Grade 1 will be automatically enrolled in Grade 2 and so on. That’s why early registration is focusing on those three levels, kindergarten, grade 7 and senior high school,” said  Jimenez.

Last year, the region recorded a total of 2.2 million students enrolled in Kindergarten, Elementary and High School levels.

With the increase in the number of school enrollees in the next school year, DepEd officially launched the Brigada Eskwela or the National Schools Maintenance Week on Monday, May 20, to mobilize parents, teachers, private and civil society groups to repair classrooms and beautify its surroundings.

This movement will prepare the classrooms for the incoming students as classes in public schools will officially open on June 3.

On Saturday, May 18, the DepEd-Cebu Province kicked-off the Brigada Eskwela activity in Carnaza Island in Daanbantayan town.

“It’s really an experience to be mingling with the stakeholders of Carnaza Island. Everyone is enthusiastic to really make a contribution on their own to get the schools ready,” said DepEd-7 regional director Juliet Jeruta.

She appealed to stakeholders and operating agencies to pull their resources together in order  to provide learners with comfortable, safe and peaceful learning environment and appropriate learning resources so they will be truly prepared to face another challenging school year.

“(We) are preparing the environment for a harmonious opening of classes… where you can really exemplify the line that it takes a whole village to educate a child,” she said.

As part of the Brigada Eskwela campaign, help desks were deployed in public schools to address the concerns of parents, teachers and learners.

This year, Brigada Eskwela is celebrated with a theme: “Mapanatag na Bayan para sa Paghanda ng Paaralan.” / celr