DEPED Commons now has more than 8.5 million subscribers despite the deferment of opening of classes.

Education Undersecretary Alain Pascua bared this as he expressed happiness with the support of teachers, students and parents to DepEd Commons.

Pascua added that it was the first in Philippine history  that a huge number of students used an online platform for their classes.

“The DepEd Commons by now, has about more than 8.5 million subscribers. Maliit pa ito sa ngayon dahil hindi pa nagsisimula ang klase. Pero for the first time in the Philippine history, ito ‘yong pinakamalaking bilang ng mga estudyante na nakapag-access na,” Pascua said in a press briefing.

The Department of Education expects to reach 16 million to 17 million users when classes start on October 5.

Pascua added  that DepEd is focused on ensuring that the educational platform won’t crash if ever the expected  17 million users use it all at the same time. At the same time, television and radio lectures are being uploaded at DepEd Commons.

He added that teachers will be able to access the platform a month ahead of class opening  to be able to prepare their lessons.

Students and parents will be able to access it two weeks before the start of the school year  to enable them to study the lessons.

Some parents, however, claimed they could not access the platform.

DepEd Commons can be accessed by entering the student number or ID number.