Education Secretary Leonor Briones on Tuesday refuted claims that more and more students are dropping out due to the problems they face under the distance learning set-up.

During the Laging Handa Public Briefing, Briones said that the DepEd has not received any reports from its regional and division offices on the number of students who are allegedly dropping out this school year .

“Nagugulat kami sa balitang iyan kasi last week pa namin iyan na-validate at wala naman reports galing sa mga regions na meron dropout na marami sa ating mga estudyante (We’re surprised by this news because since last week, we have been validating this and we have not received any reports from our regions that there are students who have dropped out),” Briones said.

Briones mentioned that in some instances, such as Christmas break or summer vacation, students do not go back to school right away. “Even without COVID, some students go back to school at a later date because they might be coming back from the provinces or their parents have to address other concerns first,” she said. “I don’t think it is directly related to programs of DepEd,” she added.

Students resuming class activities at a later date, Briones said, is not very “unusual.” These cases, she added, are isolated.

However, Briones noted that the DepEd continues to verify the source of such information. “Hanggang ngayon, vine-verify pa namin kung saan galing yung balita na maraming nag-drop out sa ating programa lalo na ngayon na nagsabi ang Presidente na mag-stay at home muna yung mga bata, binibigyan natin ng diin ang ating blended learning (Until now, were still verifying if there are students who are dropping out of the program especially now that the President has decided that children should still stay at home and we’re also focusing on blended learning),” she added.

Citing reports coming from various DepEd regional offices, Briones maintained that there is no basis to conclude that there is massive dropout in the basic education system.

“Naghihintay kami ng numero sa mga nagsasabi noon pero wala naman kami natatanggap (We’re waiting for the numbers from those who claim as such but we have yet to receive any),” Briones said, adding that she asked all regions to report last week but there was no confirmation from any of them.

Recognizing the challenges under distance learning, Briones assured that DepEd will continue to implement “academic ease” measures to help students and their parents who might be overwhelmed by the requirements under the distance learning set-up implemented this school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.