THE DEPARTMENT of Education on Tuesday said that it has not received any report on the alleged massive dropout rate in schools due to the difficulties brought by distance learning.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones said that the DepEd cannot confirm the claim because it has not received reports from its regional offices.

“Nagugulat kami sa balitang iyan dahil last week pa iyan namin vinalidate, wala namang reports galing sa mga regions na mayroong dropout na marami sa ating mga estudyante,” she said.

Briones stressed that the delay in attending classes is not new.

“Usually, after a holiday like Christmas vacation, summer vacation mabagal ang pagbalik ng mga bata with or without Covid iyan kasi mag-uwian galing probinsya,” she said.

“Pero hindi naman unusual iyan. Hindi naman gano’n kadami dahil wala kaming natatanggap hanggang ngayon. Bine-verify namin saan nanggaling ang balitang iyan,” the education chief said.