Despite economic hardships, the number of enrollees for this school year jumped by 6.5 percent, the highest in three years, to an estimated 23.43 million from 22 million in 2009, the Department of Education (DepEd) reported over the weekend as classes start Tuesday.

Statistics released by the DepEd to the Manila Bulletin indicated an annual upward adjustment in the number of enrollees both in private and public, in the last three years with school year 2008-2009 registering a 1.75-percent increase at 21.62 million.

It implies, among others, that the quest for learning remains the top priority of parents for their children. For this year, DepEd data showed that economic conditions play a role in the number of students enrolled in public schools, accounting for the biggest share at 86 percent or about 20.17 million. This has been the trend since 2008.

While those who can afford private tutelage reached only 3.26 million. Of the 23.43 million students now in schools, DepEd said 3.15 million are enrolled in Grade 1 and 1.73 million are first year high school students.

Further breaking down the statistics, it was learned that 880,000 are in public pre-schools while 450,000 are enrolled in private pre-schools. On the other hand, 13.44 million are in public elementary schools as against 1.17 million pupils who are attending primary education in private schools.

There are 5.65 million students pursuing secondary education in public high schools and 1.45 million in the same level in private learning institutions.

For the tertiary education, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) noted that nursing remains to be the top choice for incoming freshmen, followed by information technology (IT), and those aiming to be an educator taking the third slot.

A degree in hotel and restaurant management (HRM), likewise, is among the top choices as it is an avenue for graduates to seek employment abroad.

However, data from CHEd showed that enrolment in nursing and education courses dipped by 2.4 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively.

In contrast, those taking up HRM and IT courses leaped by 30.6 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.
Education Secretary Mona Valisno announced last week the plan of DepEd to establish education centers in all 1,500 cities and municipalities nationwide.

Valisno said that these education centers will harmonize existing DepEd programs that organize the involvement of local governments, local communities, and the private sector.

“We have the Library Hub, the Brigada Eskwela Plus, and the Adopt-a-School where all of these education stakeholders are already involved,” Valisno said.

She explained that the “Library Hubs” are local government-funded and private sector-sponsored book warehouses where schools can borrow reference materials in bulk while the Brigada Eskwela (BE) Plus is the scaled up version of the annual Brigada Eskwela national schools maintenance week.

The “Adopt-a-School Program,” on the other hand, helps private donors direct their support to schools that need them.

These education centers, Valisno said, will be a venue for parent learning support for children and serve as knowledge management centers where basic family records and community data can be stored.

Meanwhile, to help schools meet their education targets, Valisno encouraged all regional and division officials of DepEd to engage and mobilize local government units and the community. (With a report from Ina Hernando-Malilipot)