ILOILO City – As of August 1, a total of 1,750,633 learners have registered for the 2024-2025 school year in Western Visayas, according to the Department of Education (DepEd).
This figure includes 928,618 elementary, 545,222 junior high, and 276,793 senior high school students.
Hernani Escullar Jr., the DepEd Region 6 information officer, noted that this enrollment number is lower compared to last year’s 2,012,930, of which 1,809,425 were from public schools.
However, Escullar expects the number of enrollees to rise as reports continue to come in from the 21 Schools Division Offices (SDOs) and as public schools are still accepting late enrollments.
DepEd has not yet announced a final date for late enrollment, and Escullar emphasized that schools would continue to accept new students. He stressed the importance of ensuring that late enrollees catch up with their peers through specially provided activities and modules.
Escullar clarified that the thinking that enrollment ends after a certain period is discouraged. Instead, parents are urged to proceed to their preferred schools to enroll their children and consult with the school head.
“All learning competencies will be ensured for the children before the end of the school year,” Escullar said.
He also mentioned several factors contributing to the lower turnout this year, including parental work assignments in other regions and the birth rate, which affects eligibility for kindergarten enrollment due to age restrictions.
In terms of infrastructure, the region boasts 4,057 public schools, 969 private schools, and 12 Local and State Universities and Colleges (LUCs and SUCs).
DepEd-6 assessed the first week of classes as smooth, with no significant incidents reported across all 4,057 public schools.
“No major incidents, the first week was successful,” Escullar reported.
Starting this school year, the Matatag Curriculum is being implemented in all public schools across the region at the kindergarten and grades 1, 4, and 7 levels. This curriculum reduces the number of learning areas from seven to five: Language, Reading and Literacy, Mathematics, Makabansa, and Good Manners and Right Conduct.
The rollout will continue incrementally over the next four years, expanding to additional grades annually until 2027-2028./PN
