Declaring January 30, 2016 as Commencement of Early Registration for School Year (SY) 2016-2017

ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF EARLY REGISTRATION AND THE REGISTRATION PROCESS

Advocacy Campaign

1. The Regional Offices (ROs) and Schools Division Offices (SDOs) through their respective information officers and/or Public Affairs Units shall organize their Communications Teams, which shall support this campaign.
2. Schools are enjoined to work with parents, local barangay officials, Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC), civic organizations, people’s organizations (POs) and other stakeholders.

Child or Youth Find Activities

1. SDOs and schools shall lead the Child or Youth Find Activities, in collaboration with the LGUs and BCPCs.
2. Schools near indigenous cultural communities shall be mobilized to ensure early registration of the targeted enrollees. These schools should coordinate with the Division IPEd Focal Person for support on the curriculum contextualization/culture-based intervention of education for Indigeneous Peoples learners. Likewise, street visits shall be conducted by SDOs.
3. High school principals and staff shall work with the chairpersons of the barangay and may also tap the Student Government Organization officials and Boy Scout/Girl Scout leaders to locate elementary graduates who either have not enrolled in high school or dropped out of school so that appropriate program interventions could be planned.
4. Elementary or high school principals shall visit families with children who require special education to assess their educational needs to be able to plan for providing these children’s educational support and intervention.

Early Registration

1. Age Qualification for Kindergarten

Kindergarten children should be at least 5 years old by June 1, 2016.

2. Qualification for Grade 1

Kindergarten completers will be accepted in Grade 1.

3. Documentary Requirement:

a. The birth certificate of the child shall be the documentary basis for early registration.
b. If not available during the Early Registration period, the document can be submitted within the school year.
c. The same document is required for other children and youth who have never been to school.

4. Elementary and high school officials shall identify the Registration Centers (RCs) in the school premises and individuals who will handle the registration on January 30, 2016 and during school days from February 1-29, 2016.

5. Each SDO shall identify areas without schools but may have enrollees, and the SDS shall designate the District Supervisor to work with the concerned Barangay Chairperson so that early registration can be done in the barangay. Likewise, registration of street children who were identified during the street visits shall be conducted by the SDOs. The SDO should coordinate with the DSWD for this activity.

6. Registration of Children and Youth with Special Needs

a. The Division Supervisor who is in-charge of Special Education (SPED), shall facilitate the overall planning and implementation of the registration process. He/She shall plan with SPED Centers and trained SPED teachers, together, with health personnel, on their specific roles in the registration process:

• Conduct an orientation on the screening and identification of children and youth with disabilities in regular schools without SPED programs;
• Network with organizations/associations of people with disabilities (PWDs) or those working for PWDs, including government agencies, which can provide assistance to regular schools;
• Prepare a deployment schedule of SPED teachers, health personnel, and the NGO, PWD volunteers during the Early Registration; and
• Communicate possible interventions to the families/parents/guardians of children with special needs during the early registration. This will help to convince them to enrol their children in special education.

b. SPED Centers, trained SPED teachers assigned to regular schools, and all health personnel will assist in locating children and youth with disabilities, from five to 18 years old, who have not been to school.

7. Registration of OSCs and OSYs

Learners who have dropped out from elementary or secondary schools and who want to be enrolled in the formal system through an Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) or the Alternative Learning System (ALS) shall present their report card to the Teacher-in-Charge of the registration. If the report card is not available, a certification letter signed by the parent/guardian can be presented. 7

8. Elementary and high school officials, SDOs and ROs shall ensure that children or youth registered during this period come to school on June 2016.

CLARIFICATION ON THE ENLISTMENT OF CHILDREN BELOW FIVE (5) YEARS OLD BY JUNE 1

This is to clarify the provision in the paragraph 1 ,b of DepEd Order No. 16 s. 2015 which states that only children who are 5 years old by June 1 may be admitted to Kindergarten starting June 2016 and onwards. The age appropriateness of the curriculum will be lost if children who are younger than five years old are admitted to the Kindergarten program.

The Kindergarten curriculum is intended to help children who are at least 5 years old to acquire the values, attitudes and competencies that are known to enable successful and beneficial participation in school learning experiences. It is designed on the bases of the prevailing understanding about developmentally appropriate expectations1 and on how children who are at least five years old learn and develop2. As such, the assumptions are drawn from the understanding of children and childhood according to all areas of growth, namely psychomotor, socio-emotional, language, cognitive and spiritual3.

If children who will turn 5 within the month of June are recommended for admission, then the school head should secure written permission from the Schools Division Superintendent (SDS) to admit these children into Kindergarten.