The postponement of the school opening prompted a congressman on Saturday to urge parents to enroll their children.
Deputy Majority Leader and Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles said the four million children who have not yet been enrolled have been given another month and a half to enroll.
The Department of Education pushed back the opening of classes from August 24 to October 5.
“I hope parents will use the change afforded by the delay in school opening to enroll their children,” Nograles said.
“Rest assured that I will monitor the implementation of the DepEd’s distance learning system to ensure support for your children.”
Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said that 2.75 million of those who did not enroll used to go to private schools. More than one million students who attended public school have meanwhile not registered for this coming school year.
An estimated 380,000 learners from kindergarten to senior high school levels, meanwhile, transferred to public schools from private learning institutions.
As of August 11, 23 million have enrolled in public and private schools. Last year’s enrollment was some 27.7 million.
The lawmaker also reiterated his call for the education department to familiarize parents with their new roles under the distance learning method.
Parents are de facto teachers under the new system, he said, and should thus be oriented on how they can facilitate their children’s learning experience and monitor their progress.
He also expressed hope that the DepEd would “use the postponement of school opening wisely.”
“Issues like delivery of learning materials and support to teachers and learners should be seamlessly done now that the DepEd has more time to do it,” said Nograles.