DepEd Bares 1.2M Enrollment Drop for SY 2025-2026

Education Secretary Sonny Angara reported a five-percent drop in total enrollment for School Year 2025-2026, with enrollees numbering only 24.9 million compared to last year's 27 million.

- BELLA CARIASO

Angara said that the Department of Education (DepEd) is still determining the cause of the drop in enrollment, adding that it is still not a cause for concern.

"It is not yet (a cause for concern), but we are really seeing tapering off. We are looking at the data. It's something we will seek to understand going forward," he said.

During the deliberations on the proposed ₱928.52-billion budget of the DepEd for 2026, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio noted a big decrease in school enrollment this 2025.

"The population is growing. How come there is tapering off?" Tinio asked.

Based on the presentation of Angara, the total enrollment for kindergarten for this year reached 1.8 million compared to 1.7 million last year; elementary, 11.6 million compared to 12.4 million last year; junior high school, 7.5 million compared to 7.46 million last year; and senior high school, 3.6 million compared to 3.9 million last year.

"It is a reporting issue. Number one, there are late enrollees. Number two, even if the students are enrolled, the encoding is late. Even into September, October, we are expecting this number to increase," Angara said.

Tinio has noted that the biggest drop in enrollment was in elementary with almost one million decrease.

"Maybe we will study better. I don't want to venture any guesses, it could be an economic factor, it could be a lot of factors," Angara added.