Angara Streamlines Enrollment Process

Parents will only need to submit their child's birth certificate in school once, as the government aims to streamline enrollment, Education Secretary Sonny Angara stressed yesterday.

- With Rhodina Villanueva

"We've heard from parents that enrollment problems often come from documentary requirements — especially when records are lost, delayed or need to be reprocessed," Angara said.

Under the revised guidelines, parents or guardians must submit the original or certified true copy of the learner's Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)/National Statistics Office (NSO)-issued birth certificate. If the birth certificate is unavailable during enrollment, they may submit secondary documents until Oct. 31, but must provide the birth certificate as soon as it becomes available.

"This change saves families time and money. More importantly, it helps ensure that no child misses the first day of school just because of paperwork," Angara said.

At the same time, Angara said no voluntary fees shall be collected during the early registration and enrollment period, in response to President Marcos' directive for faster, seamless and more inclusive school registration.

He said the Department of Education (DepEd) will also accept secondary documents, including National ID or any primary government ID, certificate of live birth, marriage certificate, PhilHealth ID, PWD ID, barangay certification, affidavit of undertaking signed by parents, NSO/PSA-issued Certificate of Foundling and baptismal certificate.

The DepEd said late enrollees may still be accepted if they meet at least 80 percent of the number of school days and pass the quarterly requirements. If not, the school head may decide whether to accept the student and offer catch-up interventions.

DepEd also reiterated that learner's records must be transferred directly between schools.

With these simpler rules, DepEd expects more students to enroll this year across all grade levels in public schools during the nationwide registration period last June 9 to 13. Classes for SY 2025-2026 begin tomorrow, June 16.