(First of 2 parts)

THE PANDEMIC has affected learning in an unprecedented scale, exposing and magnifying deep inequities in the education system.

When schools were closed in 2020, everyone knew that the road to recovery would be challenging.

The Department of Education proved that it can rise above the circumstances to provide quality and accessible education.

DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones said that School Year 2021-2022 would “not be a repeat of last year because events do not necessarily repeat themselves.”

“DepEd celebrates with great joy its success in opening classes for the second year in the time of Covid19,” she said when classes opened last September 13.

“We opened classes last year. We successfully ended them. Now we are opening another school year. Isn’t that success worthy of celebration?” she said.

As 2021 draws to a close, we look back at some of the department’s breakthroughs where it demonstrated its battlecry “Sulong EduKalidad.”

Resumption of F2F classes

After nearly two years of virtual learning, the government allowed the pilot run of face-to-face classes in select public schools.

The Education department declared that the first day of in-person classes was a success.

Ninety-seven public schools resumed physical classes on November 15 with some 5,000 learners and around 800 teachers trooping back to school.

“Malugod nating tinanggap ang unang mga mag-aaral natin na tumuntong muli sa ating mga paaralan physically, matapos ang mahigit isang school year na tayo ay pure distance learning,” Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said.

On Nov. 22, 1,732 students participated in the pilot implementation of limited physical classes in private schools.

On December 6, more than 2,000 students in 28 public schools in Metro Manila also held physical classes.

While around 300 schools nationwide have reopened, Education Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio recognized that challenges remained in the implementation of new learning modalities.

However, San Antonio believes that DepEd was able to deliver its mandate of providing basic education services.

“We were able to implement the learning continuity plan according to our strategies — our teachers and personnel were able to demonstrate sufficient competence and innovativeness in making sure that efforts to provide opportunities for the students to learn were done properly, consistent with our strategies,” he pointed out.

The official expects all schools to reopen for in-person classes for SY 2022-2023.

“We expect to be able to transition to the mainstream new normal in the K to 12 program, with the new normal providing the blended learning modalities to our students,” San Antonio said.

“Once the Covid19 situation is well-managed, especially with the downward trend in new positive cases, learners will be more empowered with the choices on how they learn,” he added.

High enrollment rate

Enrollment figures for SY 2021-2022 topped the numbers recorded last year.

Based on the DepEd’s Learner Information System, 27,232,095 students enrolled, 1,005,073 or 3.83 percent higher than the 26,227,022 enrollees in the previous year.

Students in public schools increased by 1,187,632 or by 5.23 percent from last year’s enrollment.

However, there was a slight decrease in enrollment in private schools, state universities and colleges and local universities and colleges, and Philippine schools overseas.

Enrollees in the Alternative Learning System, was also low – 239,616 compared to 599,365 in 2020.

Moreover, there was greater migration from private to public schools last year but this year there is a net migration from public to private schools.

“More than 612,140 learners transferred from public to private schools, while more than 305,513 learners transferred from private to public schools, for a net transfer from public to private schools of 306,627,” the department said.

Despite these figures, DepEd reiterated that there was strong showing of trust of learners and parents to the agency in providing learning opportunities amid the pandemic.

Unlike in the previous year, there were fewer errors in the self-learning modules after introducing stricter quality control mechanisms.

It was also able to expand the features of various initiatives for blended learning such as the DepEd TV and DepEd Commons as well as its other regional initiatives.