Almost 3 million learners have enrolled in public schools for School Year 2022-2023, the Department of Education said Tuesday, as the enrollment period will last until the opening of classes on August 22.
DepEd spokesperson Michael Tan Poa said that yesterday, on the first day of enrollment, “turnout was good. As of 7:35 last night, there were already 2.808 million enrollees.”
Meanwhile, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte said learners must be provided with mental wellness support to help them cope with the post-pandemic transition to in-person learning.
During a post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forum, Duterte said the DepEd has advised its regional offices to make this service available for learners.
Two petitioners of the anti-COVID-19 vaccination on Tuesday welcomed the position of Duterte not to discriminate against students without vaccines from attending face-to-face classes.
At the sidelines of a court hearing in Quezon City, former broadcast journalist Dominic Almelor and fellow petitioner Girlie Samonte said “the public must not blame an unvaccinated person why another person got the infection.”
Poa noted this is better than last year’s turnout, where only about 200,000 students signed up on enrollment’s first day.
Most of the learners personally went to the schools to enroll, despite online enrollment still being implemented, the lawyer said.
He said the DepEd expects 28.6 million pupils to enroll this year.
Duterte earlier ordered all schools in basic education to shift to full in-person classes by Nov. 2, disallowing remote and blended learning. But President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has suggested keeping blended learning in “very specific areas.”
“We instructed our regional offices to coordinate with their local mental health associations, in their psychiatric societies to come up with mental wellness support for our learners who for the past two years, only knew of the online classroom, and now they are transitioning to our in-person teaching,” she said.
However, Duterte assured the department has provided ample time for schools and learners to adjust to the mandatory face-to-face learning set-up on November 2.
“We did not directly impose upon them to begin five-day in-person classes in their schools. We allowed them to conduct a blended learning mode which is combined with in-person and distance learning,” she said, referring to the setup allowed from August 22 to October 31.
With the in-person setup just around the corner, the Vice President said DepEd is also considering mobile vaccination in schools.
“Continue with the counseling of unvaccinated families, particularly the unvaccinated learners, and the teaching and non-teaching staff of the Department of Education that is unvaccinated as well. Once the counseling is successful, they initiate mobile vaccination in our schools, for those who have given their consent to be vaccinated,” she said.
The Education chief, meanwhile, noted they are also working on the recovery and rebuilding plans for schools affected by Typhoons Odette and Agaton.
“We started with the checking of inventory of the schools who were affected by typhoon Odette, and where they are now with their repairs and reconstructions of classrooms and buildings that were damaged by the typhoon, and we already talked to our finance department, to look for savings in the past year and this year, and request for the realignment of these savings to the repair, and reconstructions of these classrooms and buildings,” she said.
The Department of Public Works and Highways is also expected to help in the reconstruction of buildings if there will be any repairs.
Last July 22, Duterte visited damaged schools in Bohol to assess their status and respond to their needs.
“As a parent, I can heave a sigh of relief because my worry is that my son would be discriminated against in school since he is not vaccinated against COVID-19 infection,” Almelor told the media.
Samonte, for her part, said: “I hope that the schools would not defy the policy of our Vice President because there are some schools that might not allow unvaccinated students to attend classes.”
Almelor of Quezon City and Samonte of Manila said they have found an ally in Duterte.
With help from the Public Attorney’s Office, they filed a petition against former Health chief Francisco Duque III and DOH officer in charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire to stop the vaccination of COVID-19 on children aged five to 11 years old.
PAO chief Persida Acosta commended the swift action of Duterte, also a lawyer, by saying the Vice President anchored her directive on Republic Act 11525.
“The PAO and parents-petitioners were happy over the DepEd secretary’s order because their children can now be able to attend the face-to-face classes that will start in November without requiring them to be vaccinated,” she said.
Yesterday, witness Romeo Quijano, a medical doctor, testified before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, calling the COVID-19 vaccine an unsafe drug.