DepEd: Enrollment for School Year 2023-2024 begins

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday kicked off the enrollment for School Year 2023-2024, three weeks before the official start of classes later this month.

Based on DepEd Order 22 signed by Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, the enrollment for the upcoming academic year will be from August 7 to 26, 2023.

The DepEd is expecting enrollees this year to increase from 28.7 million to 28.8 million, according to DepEd spokesperson Undersecretary Michael Poa in a Super Radyo dzBB interview on Sunday.

There were around 28.4 million students enrolled in 44,931 public schools and 12,162 private schools in the previous academic year.

The opening of classes for the School Year 2023-2024 in all public schools nationwide will be on August 29, while private schools may opt to open classes on any day starting the first Monday of June but not later than the last day of August.

The DepEd will conduct the Brigada Eskwela — a nationwide school maintenance program — on August 14 to August 19.

During the national kickoff of the 2023 Brigada Eskwela on Monday, August 7, at the Tarlac National High School, Duterte explained that the initiative is an “appeal to the bayanihan spirit of every Filipino to help prepare our schools for the opening of classes.”

“It is just making our schools functional, clean, and orderly inside and outside the classrooms and within the school sites. Ibig sabihin, tanggalin niyo ‘yung lahat ng mga clutter, lahat ng mga dumi na nakatambak sa loob classrooms at sa loob ng eskwelahan,” she said.

(That means, you should remove all the clutter and dirt piled up inside the classrooms and inside the schools.)

Duterte also implied that work for the Brigada Eskwela is only voluntary, and those who do not wish to participate may just keep quiet.

“‘Yung ayaw tumulong, wag niyo nang pilitin. ‘Yung wala pong ambag sa bayanihan at meron pang reklamo… sarado niyo ang bibig,” she added.

(If they don't want to help, don't force them. Those who have no contribution to the bayanihan and still have complaints... shut your mouth.)

According to DepEd, the Oplan Balik Eskwela, an annual initiative that engages agencies, organizations and other stakeholders to prepare for the opening of the school year, will be conducted from August 14 to 26.

Christmas break, meanwhile, will begin on December 18, 2023 and will end on January 2, 2024. Classes will resume the following day, on January 3, 2024.

The end of school year break, meanwhile, will be from June 17 to August 25, 2024. —Giselle Ombay/KBK, GMA Integrated News