PH schools begin academic year, enrollees number 20.5M

Metro Manila, Philippines — Schools have begun the new academic year on Monday, July 29, while others postponed class opening in the aftermath of massive flooding.

As of 12 p.m., the Department of Education (DepEd) recorded 20,598,072 enrollees on the first day, with around 17.9 million learners in public schools.

DepEd’s count included enrollees in private schools, state universities and colleges, and in the Alternative Learning System.

Calabarzon logged three million students from Kinder to Grade 12, followed by Central Luzon and Metro Manila with over two million pupils.

But while many schools opened their gates as originally planned, 842 others postponed classes due to flood damage caused by super typhoon Carina and the southwest monsoon, according to DepEd data.

Around 1 out of 100 Philippine schools (1.47%) have skipped the July 29 opening, based on estimates made by NewsWatch Plus culling data from the 2023 Basic Education Report.

DepEd said 452 schools in Central Luzon, 225 in Metro Manila, 95 in Ilocos region, 66 in Calabarzon, and four in Soccsksargen will put off their class opening by at most a week, or next Monday, Aug. 5.

This translates to 803,824 affected learners. Assuming they are already enrolled, NewsWatch Plus estimates nearly four in 100 students missed the scheduled class opening, and might have to catch up on learning days during weekends.

“Usually ganon ‘yun, di ba?” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said. “Kapag na-miss ang weekday, sa weekend mag-makeup… That’s normal I think.”

[Translation: Usually it’s like that, right? Once you miss the weekday, you make it up on a weekend. That’s normal I think.]

Angara did not implement a nationwide postponement of class opening.

Thunderstorms greeted learners in Metro Manila on Monday, while the state weather bureau forecast overcast skies in many parts of the country.

Education woes

Some members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers staged a protest before the class opening at the Mendiola Peace Arch in Manila.

They called for an increase in wages and the education budget, as well as the hiring of more teachers.

The group also pushed for the suspension of the MATATAG curriculum arguing it was burdensome to their teaching load.

“Wala pa silang nilalabas na mga learning materials. Kami pa rin ang magpi-print. Hindi pa kami binibigyan ng sarili naming printer, mga bond paper na kakailanganin namin. So, bubunot na naman kami sa sarili naming bulsa,” said teacher Erlinda Alfonso, president of the Quezon City Public School Teachers Association.

[Translation: “Learning materials have yet to be released. We will still print it. We are not given printers and bond paper that we need. We will be funding those materials ourselves.”]

Angara also said the agency should address the shortage of teachers that resulted in some handling subjects beyond their expertise.

“Like science wala daw tayong science majors, eh, ‘yung coming PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) exam, science ‘yun. So ‘yun ay kailangang pasukan na,” Angara said.

“Saka ‘yung institution na tumutulong for training kailangan in case na wala tayong pamalit agad. Eh at least maturuan sila sa subject na ituturo nila,” he added.

[Translation: We don’t have science majors and the coming PISA exam is on science. We need to address that. Also we need institutions that would train them in case we don’t have an immediate way to fill in the gap. At least they were trained in the subject they would be teaching.]

This school year will be the first under Angara’s watch.

Public school students are also expected this school year to sing the “Bagong Pilipinas” hymn during flag ceremonies on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s order.

DepEd is set to implement in phases the MATATAG curriculum this year, and revert to the old academic calendar that runs from June to March.

NewsWatch Plus’ Daniza Fernandez and Lance Mejico contributed to this report.