The Department of Education (DepEd) releases DepEd Order No. 32, s. 2021 to provide schools various options for implementing an enhanced enrollment process that adheres to the guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), the Office of the President, and the Department of Health (DOH).

Here are the excerpts from Paragraph V of DepEd Order No. 32, s. 2021 – Guidelines on Enrollment for School Year 2021-2022 in the context of the continuing National Public Health Emergency due to COVID-19

Table of Contents

DepEd Enrollment Procedures for School Year 2021-2022

In keeping with strict physical distancing measures, enrollment for SY 2021-2022 shall primarily be administered remotely particularly in areas under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ). However, parents and guardians may physically submit the Modified Learner Enrollment and Survey Forms (MLESF) in schools in lower-risk areas (i.e., those under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) and Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) and lower) subject to strict observance of existing health protocols. Teachers and non-teaching personnel of schools who will be assigned to manage the enrollment are preferably vaccinated. Schools may also implement the dropbox enrollment method similarly to last school year.

The school enrollment focal person (SEFP) shall receive all submitted MLESF and turn them over to grade-level coordinators, who shall then distribute them to prospective advisers. Prospective advisers shall encode the MLESF in the LIS BOSY Facility.

DepEd Instruction to Parents/Guardians and Enrollees

For incoming Grades 1-6, 8-10, & 12 learners

Parents of incoming Grades 1-6, 8-10 8s 12 learners will be contacted by the school, preferably through previous advisers for remote enrollment procedures. However, parents/guardians may also reach out to their child’s adviser for enrollment through the contact numbers published by the school.

For incoming kindergarten, Grades 7 & 11

Parents of incoming kindergarten, Grades 7 & 11 learners shall communicate/re-affirm their intent to enroll their children to a school of their choice via digital and/or physical enrollment platforms established by schools, which is similar procedures during the early registration.

For transferees

Learners planning to transfer from one school (“the originating school”) to another (“the receiving school”) shall directly contact the receiving school through its published enrollment contact details. Previous adviser is no longer required to facilitate submission of MLESF of learner that is about to transfer to another school.

For Balik-Aral enrollees

All Balik-Aral enrollees shall directly contact their preferred schools for enrollment. The receiving schools shall register enrollee’s enrollment and survey data.

For ALS enrollees

ALS enrollees may communicate their intent to enroll via digital and/or physical enrollment platforms established by schools and barangays with community learning centers (CLCs). Modified ALS Form 2 (Annex A) shall be used for this purpose, consistent with DO No. 58, s. 2017. This form will be made available in digital and physical format.

A. Protocol for Enhanced General Enrollment

This section guides teachers and school administrators in determining how to implement modified general enrollment considering the health risk in their locality, and provides for procedures under each major stage in this process -pre-data collection, data collection, and data retrieval.

Pre-Data Collection

a. Designation of School Enrollment Focal Person (SEFP), Grade Level Enrollment Chair (GLEC) and ALS Enrollment Focal Person (AEFP)

School heads shall designate a School Enrollment Focal Person (SEFP) who will oversee the overall conduct of enrollment in the school. For very large, large, and medium schools, a Grade Level Enrollment Chair (GLEC) may be designated by the school head to facilitate the smooth implementation of enrollment procedures in their respective grade levels. The GLEC shall receive all MLESF, and turn them over to prospective class advisers who will then review and summarize the result data using the MLESF Summary Matrix Form.

Previous class advisers shall inform their previous advisory class of the need to accomplish the MLESF for SY 2021-2022.

All schools are directed to receive all accomplished ALS enrollment forms in their locality. School heads may designate AEFP particularly in schools hosting a school-based ALS class. The designated AEFP shall receive all accomplished ALS enrollment forms and shall coordinate with their Division ALS Coordinator (DALC) in processing the ALS enrollment Forms.

b. Establishment of digital and physical enrollment platforms

SDOs and schools shall make the Modified Learner Enrollment and Survey Forms (MLESFs) (Annex B} available both in digital and print format.

Digital format of the MLSEFs shall be made accessible/downloadable from the websites of the Central Office, Regional Offices (ROs), School Division Offices (SDOs) and Schools. It shall also be made available in the LIS Support page.

In coordination with barangay officials, schools may facilitate dropbox enrollment through setting up booths/kiosks in front of the school, in every Barangay Hall, and in other visible locations that are accessible to parents and guardians. The booths/kiosks will be the venue for schools to distribute printed MLESFs, enrollment procedures and contact details, as well as retrieve the accomplished MLESFs. The process shall strictly adhere to the health and safety standards defined by the IATF.

ROs and SDOs shall maintain or activate hotlines that they established during last year’s enrollment period, or set up other communication lines that are dedicated for Oplan Balik Eskwela, to disseminate information and respond to queries on enrollment procedures.

c. Deferment of deadlines for submission of documentary requirements

In recognition of the difficulties presented by the current public health emergency and the guidelines set by the IATF, deadlines for the submission of documentary requirements under Section V-A of DO No. 03, s. 2018 shall be deferred to December 31, 2021. This shall apply to both public and private schools.

Only schools and their personnel shall coordinate the transmission of learners’ records, whether internally (e.g. between a learner’s previous and incoming class advisers) or externally (i.e. between schools). As such, schools shall not compel learners and their parents/guardians to take responsibility for transmission of school records.

d. Transmittal of electronic format/scanned copy of the credential document for specific grade levels

For Grades 6 and 10 completers who already enrolled in Grade 7 and Grade 11 respectively, transmittal of scanned copy of Form 137/SF10 together with other supporting or attached documents to the receiving school is an option, provided that the request shall be made through the LIS portal – Tracking/Transfer facility in accordance with DO No. 54, s. 2016 (Guidelines on the Request and Transfer of Learner’s School Records), and that the school official email (schoolid@deped.gov.ph) shall be used in sending/receiving by both schools.

The option to transmit scanned credentials/documents through official email instead of sending hard copies of documents is also available for kinder completers who opted to transfer and enroll to Grade 1 in another school. ALS mobile teachers may also use this option in sending an electronic/scanned copy of the Portfolio Assessment Passer Certificate for Elementary and Junior HS completers who enrolled in Grade 7 and Grade 11 respectively.

e. Dissemination of information on enrollment procedures

DepEd shall disseminate information on the enrollment procedures to the public through print, social media, radio, and television. Schools shall publish the contact number of schools and/or designated teachers for queries and enrollment procedures.

f. Encouragement of stakeholder participation

Active participation of stakeholders is crucial to the success of the enrollment process. DepEd shall exhaust all available means to engage stakeholders from information dissemination to the actual conduct of the enrollment.

Parents shall be encouraged to proactively communicate with school authorities during the enrollment period.

Data Collection and Reporting

Collection of MLESFs shall be implemented through various means such as phone call, short message service (SMS), and online submission to ensure the safety of all involved parties. Parents/guardians shall only use printed MLESFs as a last resort for enrolling their child in school.

a. Through previous class advisers

Previous class advisers shall contact each learner or parent in their respective advisory class from SY 2020-2021 using the contact information found in the School Form 1 (SF-1) and data obtained from early registration.

Contact shall as much as possible be done remotely, with priority given to phone calls, SMS, and social media (e.g. Facebook Messenger), whichever is mutually convenient for both parties.

b. Through the initiative of parents/guardians

Schools shall provide specific instructions on how parents/guardians of prospective enrollees may contact the school through the designated SEFPs.

Once contacted by the parents/guardians of prospective enrollees, designated SEFPs shall facilitate the collection of data stipulated in these guidelines though the GLEC.

SEFPs shall accommodate inquiries and facilitate data collection as remotely as possible, whether via phone call, SMS, or social media (e.g. Facebook Messenger), whichever is mutually convenient for both parties.

c. Through established digital and physical platforms

Schools shall provide specific instructions to guide the submission of enrollment and survey forms by the parents/guardians of prospective enrollees, especially transferees, kindergarten, Balik-Aral and ALS learners who obtained MLESFs from enrollment booths/kiosks.

d. Enrollment Quick Count Reporting

There will be a daily reporting of enrollment count and summary result of MLESFs from August 16, 2021 until September 17, 2022 using the Quick Count Facility in LIS. Instruction and system tutorial guide will be made available thru LIS support tab.

For teachers without laptops and internet connectivity at home, any physical reporting to school to encode MLESF data shall strictly adhere to the minimum health and safety standards.

e. LIS Encoding

Enrollment and Tracking in LIS

Following the same process in updating the enrollment status of learners at the Beginning of School Year (BOSY Updating), the enrollment status of learners in a school’s registry shall be updated based on their SF-9 (Learner Progress Report Card).

For this purpose, the prospective class adviser shall encode collected learner data from the MLESF in the LIS.

School heads shall ensure that all teachers have the means to encode MLESF data. School heads shall also extend assistance to teachers who have pre-existing medical conditions and are not permitted to leave their homes, but who are also unable to encode in LIS at home.

Public and private schools shall start their encoding/updating of MLESF data in the LIS BOSY module on the 2nd week of September.

For Learners who Transferred Out from Private School with Unsettled Financial Obligations

For learners who moved/transferred out from Private Schools but still have outstanding financial obligations, the receiving public school is instructed to accommodate the learner and assist the parent to execute an affidavit of undertaking as stipulated in DO No. 03, s. 2018. The originating Private School, within thirty (30) calendar days upon receipt of electronic notification of transfer through the LIS Portal – Tracking/Transfer Facility, is requested to review the validity of the request and to take required action by confirming the transfer request and clicking the unsettled account check box to tag/mark in the system that the learner is just Temporarily Enrolled in the current school, consistent with Section V.C of DO No. 03, s. 2018 which states that such learners “shall be required to submit an Affidavit of Undertaking, signed by parent/guardian in order to be temporarily enrolled”.

To ensure timely and accurate reporting of learners’ movements from one school to another, the Division LIS System Administrator or the Division Planning Officer is reminded to monitor compliance of private and public schools concerned, and to maintain proper utilization of LIS, particularly the Tracking System, which is intended to monitor the physical transfer of learners. Any malicious intent/misutilization of LIS Tracking System that result in delays or in pending transfer transactions between schools shall be reported to the Office of the Schools Division Superintendent for appropriate action, in relation to DO No. 14, s. 2016.

Data retrieval

The Central Office (CO) shall retrieve new data pertaining to the MLESF from the LIS and shall process the results. ROs and SDOs shall be given access to the LIS quick count facility dashboard of their respective governance levels to allow them to process their respective enrollment counts.

B. Functions and Responsibilities

The table below shows the functions and responsibilities of each governance level during the key stages of the enrollment process:

Data Privacy

Schools shall properly dispose of accomplished printed enrollment and learner survey forms after these are encoded in the LIS.
The Data Protection Officer shall ensure the Department’s compliance with the requirements of the Data Privacy Act during the enrollment process. He/she may issue further guidelines as necessary.
Regional Directors, Schools Division Superintendents, and School Heads shall act as Data Compliance Officers at their respective levels of governance and ensure the protection of collected personal information. They may use the results of the survey to plan and develop interventions for their respective jurisdictions consistent with the requirements of the Data Privacy Act.
The Planning Service shall process the results of the survey for policy and program development purposes consistent with the requirements of the Data Privacy Act.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Planning Service through the Education Management Information System Division (EMISD), and the Bureau of Human Resource and Organizational Development -School Effectiveness Division (BHROD-SED) in the Central Office; the Policy, Planning, and Research Division (PPRD) and Quality Assurance Division (QAD) in ROs; and the School Governance Operations Division (SGOD) in SDOs shall conduct monitoring, provide technical assistance, and gather issues, best practices, and feedback, provided that these activities shall be done remotely.

All stakeholders, particularly parents and guardians, are encouraged to provide feedback relative to the implementation of these enrollment guidelines to ps.emisd@deped.gov. ph.

Effectivity

These guidelines shall govern only the SY 2021-2022 enrollment and rescind DO No. 08, s, 2020. DO No. 03, s. 2018 remains in effect but its provisions inconsistent with these guidelines are suspended for SY 2020-2021.

Certified copies of this DepEd Order shall be registered with the University of the Philippines Office of the National Administrative Register.