As the world continues its battle against the pandemic, the Department of Education (DepEd) constantly finds ways to strategize how to deliver the best and quality education to Filipino students. Its continuing effort in ensuring that every student continues their education amidst pandemics is evident in the recent data from the DepEd Learner Information System as of July 10, 2021. The said data shows that the number of enrolled students in public schools has increased.
Table of Contents
The Initial Major Picture
| SECTORS | TOTAL ENROLLMENT (SY 2019-2020) | TOTAL ENROLLMENT (SY 2020-2021) |
|---|---|---|
| Public Only (Formal) | 22,572,923 | 22,712,409 |
| Private | 4,304,676 | 3,375,748 |
| SUCs/LUCs | 131,006 | 118,755 |
| Alternative Learning System (ALS) | 759,723 | 361,406 |
| Philippine Schools Overseas | 21,786 | 20,110 |
| TOTAL | 27,790,114 | 26,588,428 |
| PER MODALITY | PUBLIC | PRIVATE | SUCs/LUCs | PSO | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modular (Print) | 19,783,047 | 929,121 | 51,119 | 24 | 20,763,311 |
| Modular (Digital) | 432,953 | 103,701 | 6,861 | 15 | 543,530 |
| Modular (Online) | 503,334 | 1,402,805 | 22,976 | 16,923 | 1,946,038 |
| Education TV | 7,117 | 162 | 2 | – | 7,281 |
| Education Radio | 60,322 | 1,082 | – | – | 61,404 |
| Homeschooling | 1,894 | 25,418 | 4 | – | 27,316 |
| Blended | 1,923,742 | 913,459 | 37,793 | 3,148 | 2,878,142 |
| Grand Total | 22,172,409 | 3,375,748 | 118,755 | 20,110 | 26,227,022 |
We can see that there is an overall drop in the total enrollment in all grade levels from both public and private schools this academic year, 2020-2021.
Public schools’ enrollees from Kindergarten to Grade 12 have increased to 22,712,409 compared to the previous academic year’s number of enrollees, about 22,572,923.
Meanwhile, the number of private school enrollees from Kindergarten to Grade 12 has recorded a total drop of 929,928. This might be due to the financial effects of the pandemic on the income of the families of those who are enrolled in private schools.
A remarkable decline in enrollment in the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs), Alternative Learning System (ALS), and in the Philippine Schools Overseas has also been recorded.
Points to Think About:
Given the data above, there are key points that each stakeholder in education should be concerned about:
- How can we make more students continue their education amidst the pandemic?
- What opportunities exist for private school educators and personnel who rely on the number of enrollees to keep going by?
- How do we prevent students from dropping out due to the reasons related to the pandemic?
- What is the exact number of people delaying their enrollment in the basic education school because of the pandemic?
The Multiple Modes of Learning
To ensure that quality education is delivered to all learners of different family backgrounds and social statuses, the Department of Education (DepEd) has designed different learning modalities.
Designed to provide ample time for mastery and sufficient practice to ensure that the targeted most essential learning competencies are achieved.
Applicable in schools where both the teachers and learners have access to digital devices,, with available online resources and Internet connectivity.
Implemented when supplemented with LAS that serve as assessment tools to determine whether learners learned the concept presented in TV or radio-based lessons.
Implemented when supplemented with LAS that serve as assessment tools to determine whether learners learned the concept presented in TV or radio-based lessons.
Implemented to provide learners with access to quality basic education through a home-based environment to be facilitated by qualified parents, guardians, or tutors who have undergone relevant training.
A mix of online distance learning, modular distance learning, and TV/Radio-based Instruction.
Public Schools
The majority of the learners from the public schools, about 19,783,047 in total, which is about 79.17% of the population, can receive instructions via modular print. In comparison, blended learning comes second, with 10.97% of learners receiving instruction through such mode.
The remaining percentage, received instructions through modular online (7.42%), modular digital (2.07), education radio(0.23%) , education TV (0.03%), and homeschooling (.10%).
Key Point:
- A big percentage of public school students can’t access online learning, which is now a global trend in education.
- The use of technology in education should be reconsidered and be given priority.
- Surprisingly, although many Filipinos have televisions at home, the Education TV mode of learning was not widely used in the recent school year.
- Continuous development and innovation in instruction delivery must be addressed for students to continue receiving a quality education.
- More surveys and consultations are needed to address the most common concerns of the stakeholder of education.
- Parents need to get informed on how they can better help and guide their children who are studying at home.
Private Schools
With about 41% of students receiving instructions, the modular online mode of learning continues to be the most preferred method of learning in private schools. Followed by modular print (27.51%), blended learning mode (27.06%), modular digital (3.07%), homeschooling (0.75%), education radio (0.03%), and education TV (0.005%).
The Problems and Their Solutions
The opening of the school year 2020-2021 had to be delayed for a few months because of the new setup the education experts had to design to ensure that quality instruction will be delivered safely to the students’ homes. As a result, considerable adjustments in the curriculum content have been made, and MELCs-based (Most Essential Learning Competency) learning materials have been developed. This learning material provided the students with the most basic and essential things they have to learn in their respective years.
Another problem encountered by the teachers is the different resources that students use. There was no single resource since the students were all learning off the schools. This is also caused by the strict social distancing protocols, making it impossible to provide maximum support to the learners and families.
Monitoring the learners and their progress has been challenging as well as the teachers can’t conduct house-to-house visits due to the pandemic restrictions.
Reports of students’ long-term disengagement from learning tasks were also recorded as not all students’ homes are conducive to learning.
However, most of the problems encountered were only prevalent at the beginning of the school year. Therefore, the Department of Education (DepEd) provided solutions such as the imposition of following one policy and guidelines to be a unified rule that teachers and students would follow.
Numerous consultations and cultures of research and innovation have been done to improve the instructions further.
The Regional and Division offices were also empowered to implement other measures appropriate for their respective contexts and decide to provide targeted support to meet students’ learning and social and emotional needs.
Sharing of Best Practices at School Level to Deal With the Difficulties Pandemic Has Brought
The Department of Education (DepEd) has made sure that all best practices in every school are shared to further cope with the struggles brought by the pandemic. Among these best practices are:
- Parent Group Circles as Home Partner Support During Distance Learning
- Project AIM (Assess, Intervene and Make a Community of Readers)
- “Catch them Before they Fall”- This is an initiative for enhancing the skills of the parents in teaching reading.
- Using integrative assessment developed through the collaboration of their subject teachers
- Engagement of teachers and Learning Support Aides in-home visitation
- The use of mobile phones and tapping the most popular social media in the country has been proven very helpful in making modular learning effective in all grade levels.
With its continuous effort to improve the education system in the Philippines in this time of the pandemic, a smoother transition to another school year is expected this coming academic year 2021-2022.
DepEd Basic Education Statistics for School Year 2020-2021 (PDF File)
Date Published: August 5, 2021
Source:
Diosdado M. San Antonio
Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instructions
Department of Education, Philippines
CONTINUE READING:
DepEd School Calendar and Activities for School Year 2021-2022
DepEd Monthly School Calendar of Activities For School Year 2021-2022
DepEd Basic Statistics on Classroom-Learner Ratio
DepEd Projected Classroom Shortages in Case of Limited to Full Face-to-Face Classes
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And if possible in S.Y. 2021-2022, too. Your response will be appreciated. Thank you.
Hello Sir, I am currently conducting a research and I was wondering if it would be possible to know the number of private school teachers in S.Y. 2020-2021. Thank you.
Hello Sir,
I am currently conducting a research and I was wondering if it would be possible to know the end of school year enrollment count for the school years: 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
Thank you and God Bless!