DepEd: Basic Education Enrollment Up by 4% in SY 2021-2022

Basic education enrollment among Filipino students increased by 3.8% for the school year 2021-2022 from the previous year.

According to the Department of Education (DepEd) on Nov. 18, there are 27,232,065 enrollees this year compared to last school year's 26,227,022, with a total increase of 1,005,073 students. By sector, this gives public schools a 5.23% or 1,187,632 increase in students for the current school year. On the other hand, there has been a slight decrease in enrollment among private schools, state universities and colleges and local universities and colleges (SUCs/LUCs), and Philippine Schools Overseas by -4.83%, -12.80% and -21.56%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Alternative Learning System (ALS) enrollment for the school year is at 239,616, which is 359,749 or 60% lower than last year's 599,365 enrollment. As per DepEd, it is doubling its efforts to raise this number. It added that the enrollment data for the school year is not yet final, saying it expects to move close to 28 million enrollees due to the extension of enrollment to end-November.

"We welcome the turnout of the official enrollment. It validates the trend in our quick-count surpassing the enrollment last school year," said DepEd. "This confirms our earlier statement that our learners last year continued their participation in formal school this year, and that a considerable number of those who skipped last school year have returned to school."