THE DEPARTMENT of Education has disclosed that the number of private schools set to temporarily suspend operation have gone up than previously reported.

This brings the total number of private schools closing for this academic year to 748.

Education Undersecretary Jesus Mateo said the closures are only temporary and the schools will reportedly be back if the situation will be favorable next year.

“Temporary lang ang closures nila pero kung maganda-ganda na next year, magbubukas na po sila,” Mateo said in a press briefing.

Previously, the education department reported that 440 private schools would stop operations before the academic year started because of the lack of enrollees.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones attributed the low turnout of enrollees in private institutions to the economic effect of lockdowns as a response to Covid19 on household finances.

Briones added that even before the start of the school year, there has been migration of private school teachers to public schools in pursuit of better salary and benefits.

“Wala pang Covid19, wala pang downturn ng economy, nagma-migrate na ang private school teachers dahil ‘di mahabol ng mga maliliit na private schools ang compensation at benefits ng mga nasa public schools,” Briones said.

According to the DepEd data, some two million students are currently enrolled in private schools, which is 47.14 percent lower from last year’s 4.3 million private learners.

Around 24 million students are enrolled for this year, the majority, or 22.2 million of which, are enrolled in public schools.