By Merlina Hernando-Malipot  The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines observed a “slowdown in enrollment rate” for learners in the basic education level in the previous days, and expressed concern that millions of learners may be “left behind” in the coming school year. Citing DepEd data as of June 13 which showed that there is a total of 10.5 million students who have enrolled and registered for School Year (SY) 2020–2021, ACT noted that this figure marks a 33 percent slowdown in enrollment rate - from 6.3 million enrollees by June 6 to just an additional 4.2 million after a week. “If this enrollment rate decline persists, we can only expect 4.7 million more to enroll in the remaining 2 weeks, coming to mere 15.2 million total enrollees in 4 weeks - that’s an alarming 44% drop from last year’s 27.2 million enrollment data,” said ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio. Latest data from DepEd as of 8:00 AM of June 15 showed that the total number of enrollees for SY 2020-2021 has reached 10, 654,795 nationwide for Kindergarten to Grade 12, including alternative learning systems (ALS)and non-graded learners with disabilities. The data showed that 10,319,505 learners have enrolled in public schools and 329,656 registered in private schools. Since June 1, DepEd has implemented remote enrollment through alternative means of communication that do not require physically reporting to school, such as text, call, email, and online messaging. Citing reports from parents, ACT noted that many of them are awaiting the permission of face-to-face enrollment so they may enlist their kids for the coming school year. ACT attributed the “dismal” turn out to the worsening health and socio-economic crisis, as well as the poor infrastructure for remote school operations. The group also urged DepEd to implement a comprehensive, scientifically grounded, and compassionate approach to ensuring safe return to schools and inclusive quality education. Protect private school teachers Meanwhile, the group also pressed the government to protect private school teachers amid dismal enrollment turn out. The low enrollment data in private schools, which is currently at around 300,000, alarmed the ACT. This, the group said, may be “worse” than the initially expected migration of about 2 million students from private to public schools. Basilio noted that prior to the easing of lockdown, many private schools have already undergone retrenchment and have had to let go of its employees, most of whom being contractual workers who ended up not being renewed. “Yet, private education workers were not included in any of the social amelioration programs of the government for displaced workers, nor has the government implemented any concrete measure to assist them in coping with the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic,” he lamented. Given this, ACT urged the government to provide wage subsidy to private schools so they may keep their employees and cushion the effects of the crisis. “Private school teachers must also receive the financial aid the government owes them since the lockdown started in March,” Basilio said.