ILOILO City – Some 93,736 public school learners across Western Visayas (WV) have registered early for school year (SY) 2023-2024.
These include incoming Kindergarten and Grades 1, 7 and 11 learners.
As of 8 a.m. of May 23, Negros Occidental has the most number of early registrants at 17,629, followed by Antique (15,417) and Capiz (13,524), data from the Department of Education (DepEd) Region 6 showed.
Here are other schools division offices (SDOs) and their respective number of early registrants: Aklan (7,027), Bacolod City (3,576), Bago City (316), Cadiz City (5,185), Escalante City (1,629), Guimaras (2,779), Himamaylan City (689), Iloilo (7,353), Iloilo City (402), Kabankalan City (2,484), La Carlota City (1,221), Passi City (836), Roxas City (2,056), Sagay City (2,459), San Carlos City (1,379), Silay City (1,249), Sipalay City (1,729), and Victorias City (4,797).
According to DepEd-6 spokesperson Hernani Escullar Jr., they are still in the first few weeks of early registration. He noted that there are SDOs that have indeed low data because they are only counting early registrants in Kindergarten and Grades 1, 7 and 11.
The early registration for SY 2023-2024 began on May 10 and will end on June 9.
“That’s why ang mga personnel naton sa school ang gapatigayon sang information dissemination to ensure nga ang mga ginikanan sang mga natungdan nga incoming learners ang makapa-enroll gilayon kag indi mag-dagsa sa mga schools during that last few days of the early registration,” Escullar added.
Vice president and concurrent Department of Education (DepEd) secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio issued on May 9 Department Order (DO) No. 010, or Amendment to DepEd Order No. 03, 2018 (Basic Education Enrollment Policy).
“Early registration for the school year 2023-2024 of incoming Kindergarten and Grades 1, 7, and 11 learners in public schools shall be conducted from May 10 to June 9, 2023,” read part of the order.
It added: “Also, this reiterates the provision in DO 03, Series of 2018, that all incoming learners enrolling in Kindergarten and Grades 1, 7 and 11 in all public elementary and secondary schools shall pre-register or participate in the early registration to allow DepEd to make the necessary preparations and adjustments to plans for the incoming school year 2023-2024.”
Earlier, Escullar said the early registration was further adjusted with the shift at the beginning of the school year from June to August in previous years.
“Ang early registration naton for the previous years were February to March, dira na nagakatabu but since nag-shift kita sang school year sa August, so gin-shift man sang central office ang early registration sa May to June,” explained Escullar.
Parents or guardians who have incoming learners enrolling in Kindergarten and Grades 1, 7 and 11 in public elementary and secondary schools only have to go to the school where they want to enroll the child and fill out the Basic Education Enrollment form.
They must bring a birth certificate when pre-registering their student.
DepEd still accepts registration even without a birth certificate, but they must submit the said documentary requirement on or before June 9.
If the parents or guardians are still unable to secure the child’s birth certificate before the end of early registration, they can still submit it during the enrollment period in August.
Schools are open to accept early registration from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday.
The early registration is for schools and DepEd to be able to make necessary preparations and adjustments to plans, such as providing learners with enough learning resources, said Escullar.
For incoming Grades 2, 6, 8, 10, and 12 learners from public schools, meanwhile, Escullar said “they are considered pre-registered, thus they do not need to participate in the early registration. However, private schools are encouraged to conduct their respective early registration activities in the same timeframe.”/PN
