250T Bohol Students Flock to School Monday

Tagbilaran City, Bohol (PNA) — At least 188,398 pupils and 51,200 students flock back to public schools on Monday as the school 2015-2016 starts.

Department of Education (DepEd)-Bohol OIC-chief for Schools Governance and Operations Division Desiderio Deligero, however, explained more had enlisted during the Brigada Eskwela last week and public schools still accept late enrolees in the first week of June.

The figures are based on the turnout of the early registration.

There used to be 202,351 pupils last year which DepEd-Bohol expected to increase by at least two percent this school year.

For high school, there used to be 74,807 students in the list and DepEd-Bohol will have to track down the remaining 23,607.

Deligero said district supervisors have been instructed to mobilize school heads to check and monitor the schools and to do quick count of actual students returning to school in the first week of classes in their areas.

By second week of June, DepEd-Bohol would be able to release the final figures based on the quick count of students and pupils.

DepEd-Bohol supervises 1,094 public schools–932 elementary and 162 high schools.

DepEd-Bohol also noted the decrease of drop-outs as a result of the Amoma program that stands for Alayon, Giya, Amoma Alang sa Kalampusan implemented starting last year.

Under the program, each teacher has been tasked to support one pupil or student who have the tendency of dropping out. The teachers guide the students to pursue school and finish the school year.

The teachers assist them in their studies, provide them school supplies and shoulder their contributions in school if needed.

Corresponding to the number of teachers, there are around 8,000 schoolchildren spared from dropping out.

Indeed, the record shows that those at risk of dropping out finished the entire school year and have been promoted to the next level—none of them wereretained in the same level.

DepEd-Bohol also made sure the teachers could already proceed with the formal classroom setting upon the opening of the school year, as the repairs and cleaning of the classrooms had been undertaken during the Brigada Eskwela on May 18-22 with support of the stakeholders.

DepEd-Bohol also implements Oplan Balik Eskwela since last week of May to the first week of June to address concerns that crop up during the enrolment period, aiming that all schoolchildren are ready for the opening of classes on Monday.

DepEd-Bohol sent teams to man the Oplan Balik Eskwela information action center that addresses the enrolment concerns.

The usual problem met during enrolment is the lack of documents like the report card of the schoolchildren, birth certificate that is needed upon entering Grade 1.

Deligero said DepEd-Bohol makes sure that from start the correct spelling of names are indicated in the school records, to avoid the usual problems wherein spelling of names become a problem when the schoolchildren reach the higher level.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) has been strict on the spelling names, DepEd-Bohol requires the birth certificates of new pupils. For the transferees, the schools require the certification from the principal of the previous school attended by the student that they are cleared for transfer to another school.

Deligero also emphasized that no contribution should be made a requisite for enrolment, and maybe the contribution—if needed—would be collected when classes are still ongoing and not during the enrolment period. (PNA) CTB/AV/PJN