Nearly two million students are projected to transfer from private schools to public as Filipinos struggle financially amid the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
Joseph Estrada, Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) Managing Director, said in a virtual Senate hearing on Thursday that private schools’ enrollment rate may drop by 50 half amid coronavirus pandemic.
In a virtual Senate hearing on Thursday, Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) Managing Director Joseph Estrada said the enrollment rate in private schools may drop by 50 percent amid the pandemic.
COCOPEA counts as members 2,500 member private schools in the Philippines.
Estrada said private educational institutions comprise 16 percent of the country’s total school enrollment rate.
“There are 27 million learners, and in the private sector, we account for 16 percent of the total enrollment. That accounts to 4 million students,” he told the Senate basic education committee, which is headed by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.
The COCOPEA Managing director said they surveyed its members. The results showed a 25 percent “steady decline” in enrollment even before the COVID-19 crisis started.
“Even prior to the pandemic, the steady decline already reached 25 percent, year in year out, because of a lot of factors na rin. But we’re anticipating more, around 50 percent,” Estrada said.
“Ang breakdown, nine percent sa elementary, 20 percent sa junior high, 46 percent in senior high,” he added.
Also read: Opening of classes on August 24, 2020- DepED
2M students projected to leave private schools amid crisis
Senator Nancy Binay then asked the Department of Education (DepED) to prepare for the possible transfer of around two million students to public schools.
Education Department Undersecretary Jesus Lorenzo Mateo said DepED would be conducting an enrollment validation to project how many students will be transferred to public schools.
“Mag ko-conduct ulit kami ng [we will conduct] enrollment validation to estimate how many of those kids will go to our schools so we can anticipate the requirements needed for all those children,” Mateo said.
“We are anticipating nga dahil dito sa challenges na ito. Definitely yung mga bata sa [children in] private schools will either migrate to public schools or will totally drop out,” he added.