MORE than 17.9 million learners have enrolled for School Year 2021-2022, the Department of Education said on Monday.

DepEd said that the number is 68 percent of the 26.2 million recorded last school year.

The agency said that 12,567,436 million of the total are enrolled in public schools, 824,469 in private schools, and 18,501 in state and local universities and colleges.

There are also 4,557,327 Kindergarten, Grades 1, 7 and 11 learners who enrolled in the early registration held from March to May.

The region with the most enrollees is Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) with 2,638,902, followed by Central Luzon at 1,854,717 and National Capital Region with 1,784,481.

The Cordillera Administrative Region, on the other hand, recorded the lowest number of enrollees at 350,276.

The enrollment period in public schools started on August 16 and will end on September 13.