The Department of Education (DepEd) announced on Monday that there is no reason for public elementary and secondary schools not to accept students during enrolment for this school year.

DepEd issued the statement after receiving complaints that there are schools that do not accept students due to incomplete documents.

Education Secretary Mona Valisno said principals and teachers should accept enrollees despite lacking the documents required by the school. She said parents who are transferring their children to public schools and do not have the official records of the child yet due to various reasons are welcome to enroll them.

“But I must remind them that they should submit these documents as soon as they can,” she said.

Valisno also encouraged school principals and teachers to be more creative and innovative to make sure that they can accommodate all those who wish to enroll. “We have a menu of teaching methods that they can apply. Similarly, there are various means our school heads can do to manage large school populations,” she explained.

Meanwhile, amid the inevitable problem of shortage of classrooms, DepEd is also campaigning for the accommodation all children of school age in the more than 45,000 public schools nationwide.

Valisno said these students, including the enrollees and transferees with incomplete documents, must be accepted in public schools as well as those estimated 10 million children who were never enrolled or those who have been out of school for years. Based on DepEd reports, this number has also increased in the last several years.

“Every Filipino child must be assured of the opportunity to get high quality education that will make him or her whole person, a responsible citizen, and lead him or her to a successful entrepreneurial venture,” she added.

Valisno also called on all the school heads to work with the community and the private sector in campaigning for more enrollees. “With your support, we can very well go beyond the estimated 23.4 million school children and move towards reaching 100 percent participation. It may not happen this year but we can be well in our way to achieve the EFA 2015 millennium goal set by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),” she said addressing the public.

To ensure that all students can go to schools despite having work, financial problems physical handicap, family and health issues, among others, Valisno also reiterated DepEd’s ‘no collection of fees’ and ‘no uniform’ policies.

Valisno said that DepEd continues to implement several programs like the Open High School Program (OHSP), the Effective Alternative Secondary Education (EASE), and the Schools Initiated Interventions (SII) to keep students from dropping out.

“There are also alternative delivery modes like the Modified In-School/Out-School Approach (MIS-OSA), parent assisted learning, and multi-grade education. For those who were out of school, they will be given the accreditation and equivalency test (A&E) under DepEd’s Alternative Learning Systems (ALS) to get them back to the mainstream of formal education,” she added.

Valisno also added that the DepEd also has the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) to decongest our high schools by supporting poor but deserving students to enroll in private high schools.

“Tuition fee subsidies of P10,000  for those in the National Capital Region (NCR) and P5,000 for those outside NCR are given to each student paid directly to the schools,” Valisno explained.