1.    The   Department   of   Education   (DepEd)   issues   the   enclosed   Basic Education Enrollment Policy for School Year 2018-2019 and the subsequent school years thereafter, to institutionalize an efficient enrollment process in public and private schools, and state/local universities and colleges (SUCS/LUCs) offering basic education nationwide.

2.    The rules and standards prescribed by this policy uphold the right of learners to  enroll  in  public  schools  upon  presentation  of  minimum  documentary requirements, and  to  be  provided  with  accessible,  relevant,  quality  and liberating education.

3.    They also guarantee the right of learners to enroll in private schools and SUCs/LUCs offering basic education upon the submission of minimum documentary requirements, and satisfaction of other conditions that the educational institution may require, subject to the existing laws and regulations.

4.    The  issuance  repeals  DepEd  Order  No.  6,  s.  2017  entitled  Multi-Year Implementing Guidelines on Early Registration. All existing Orders, Memoranda, and other related issuances inconsistent with this policy are hereby repealed, rescinded, or modified accordingly.

5.   Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is directed.


(Enclosure to DepEd Order No. 03, s. 2018)

I.    Rationale

Pursuant to the Constitutional mandate of the Department of Education to ensure the delivery  of  accessible  and  quality  education,  it  has  put  in  place  a  functional  basic education system. The enactment of Republic Act No. (RA) 10157 or the Kindergarten Act and RA 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 brought about sweeping changes in basic education which gave rise to the need to align DepEd ™s existing processes with these reforms. The enrollment of learners, particularly the collection and management of enrollment data, is one such process, integral in planning, resource allocation, policy formulation, and development of interventions. To align the enrollment process with ongoing reforms, DepEd has issued and implemented several policies, such as the adoption of the Learner Reference Number (DO 22, s. 2012), the Adoption of Modified School Forms (DO 4, s. 2014, the Omnibus Policy on Kindergarten (DO 47, s. 2016), and the policy on Transfer of Records (DO 54, s. 2016). This Policy is issued to consolidate the various issuances on enrollment and institutionalize a basic education enrollment process.

II.    Statement of Policy

All learners who elect to enroll in public schools nationwide must be accepted upon submission of the minimum documentary requirements articulated in this policy.

Learners who  wish  to  enroll in  private schools and  state  and  local  universities and colleges (SUCs/LUCs) offering basic education must submit the minimum documentary requirements stipulated in this Policy, and satisfy other conditions for admission that the institution may require.

This Policy establishes the standard process of enrollment in public and private schools, SUCs/LUCs offering basic education, and Alternative Learning System (ALS) learning centers nationwide.

III.   Scope of the Policy

This Policy shall guide DepEd offices and personnel involved in enrollment in public and private schools, SUCs/LUCs offering basic education, and ALS learning centers. This will also  provide  guidance  to  parents  and  learners  on  the  enrollment  process  and  the attendant requirements.

This Policy covers early registration, actual enrollment, Learner Information System (LIS)
encoding, and reiteration of policies on collection of fees, among others.

IV.   Definition of Terms

For purposes of this policy, the following terms are defined and understood as follows:

a.    Early registration - the pre-registration of incoming Kindergarten, Grades 1, 7, and 11 learners which takes place prior to the opening of classes

b.    Pre-registered - learners who underwent the early registration process, but are not considered officially enrolled

c.    Enrollment - the process of registering learners into the Learner Information System (LIS) upon the submission of the required supporting documents and first date of attendance

d.    Learner - an individual enrolled in an educational institution offering basic education

e.    Moved in - learners coming from other schools who enrolled in the school in the middle of
the school year

f.    Moved out - learners who were previously enrolled in the school but enrolled in other
schools the middle of the school year

g.    Temporarily enrolled - learners who are not officially enrolled due to deficiencies in submission of documentary requirements

h.    Transferred in - learners aggregated by male and female who entered from one school to another, either government or private from 1st  Friday of school calendar days to March 31

i.    Transferred out - learners who left school to enter another school as evidenced by a request for permanent record (Form 137) from 1st Friday of school calendar days to March 31

j.    Out of School Children (OSC) - persons aged 6 to 14 years who are not attending school

k.    Out of School Youth (OSY) - persons aged 15 to 24 years who are not attending school, have not finished any college or post-secondary course, and are not working

l.    Balik-Aral learner - a learner who went back to school and resume study after
year/years of dropping out or discontinuing study

m.   Indigenous Peoples (IP) learner - a learner born of either or both parents who are IP
as defined in RA 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Republic Act of 1997

n.    Special Education (SPED) learner - a learner in need of basic education that takes into account the special needs of both the differently abled and the gifted

o.    Philippine  Educational  Placement  Test  -  a  battery  of  tests  covering  five  basic subjects for validating and accrediting knowledge and skills in academic areas gained
through  informal  and  non-formal  means,  for  re-entry  into  formal  school,  job promotion, entry to job training, employment, and self-fulfillment

V.    Enrollment Procedures

A.   Early Registration

Early registration of incoming Kindergarten, Grades 1, 7, and 11 learners in public schools shall be conducted from the last Saturday of January to the last Friday of February of each year. Incoming Grades 2-6, Grades 8-10 and Grade 12 are considered pre-registered.

Early registration is conducted to achieve the following:

a.   Ensure all new entrants for Kindergarten, Grades 1, 7, and 11 learners are registered; and
b.   Locate, identify and register OSC and OSY in the community who may be characterized as:

* Living with disability/ies
* Living in an off-grid community
* Living in a barangay without a school
* Living in a geographically isolated area
* Displaced due to natural disaster
* Living in an armed conflict area
* Living in an area with high level of criminality/drug abuse
* Having chronic illness
* Having nutritional problem/s
* Victim of child abuse, economic exploitation
* Stateless/Undocumented
* In conflict with the law
* Living on the streets
* No longer in school but interested in going back to school

Offices in all governance levels, specifically those identified below, shall conduct an Information Dissemination and Advocacy Campaign to raise public awareness of early registration.

Central Office
* Public Affairs Service
* Bureau of Learning Delivery
* Bureau of Human Resource and
Organizational Development
* Bureau of Learner Support Services Regional Office (RO) and Schools
Division Office (SDO)

The Regional Director and schools Division Superintendent (SDS) shall lead and organize a team that will spearhead the advocacy
campaign.

The School Improvement Plan (SIP) Child Mapping Tool as provided in DepEd Order No. 44, s. 2015 attached as Annex 1 can be used to obtain basic information on the status of 4-17- year-old learners in the community, for purposes of school planning.

School Level

Schools shall undertake activities such as the following:
* conduct house-to-house campaigns
* post materials such as tarpaulins, banners, brochures
* post on social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
* secure radio/television broadcast and
advertisement

Schools are encouraged to involve parents, local barangay officials, civic organizations, people's organizations, and other stakeholders.

Elementary and secondary public school officials shall designate Early Registration Desks or Registration Centers in the school premises and individuals who will handle registration.

Each SDO shall identify areas without schools but may have enrollees. The SDS shall designate a focal person (preferably the Public Schools District Supervisor) to work with the concerned Barangay Chairperson for early registration to be done in the barangay. Likewise, registration of street children who were identified during Child Finding Activities shall be conducted by the SDOs in coordination with the local social worker of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Learners with no existing profile in the LIS shall fill out the Basic Education Enrollment Form provided as Annex 2*, and submit their Birth Certificate from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) formerly National Statistics Office (NSO) or the local civil registrar, or
barangay certification to the person in charge of registration. Pertinent information from these documents shall be encoded in the LIS to create the learners ™ profiles. They will then be tagged as pre-registered learners. LRNs will only be issued on the first date of attendance. Refer to Section VI. Enrollment Data Management of this policy.

Grades 1, 7, and 11 learners who have an existing account in the LIS i.e. have Learner Reference Numbers (LRNs) will be tagged as pre-registered but will still need to update their information by filling out the Basic Education Enrollment Form. It is the responsibility of the concerned school personnel to ensure that this updated information is reflected in the LIS.

During early registration, learners aged 6-12 who shall be enrolling in basic education for the first time shall be enrolled in appropriate grade levels on the basis of the following:

1.    Completion of Kindergarten Catch-up Education Program - learner shall be enrolled in Grade 1
2.    PEPT Result - learner shall be enrolled in the appropriate grade level based on the
Result of PEPT

Learners aged 13 and above who shall be enrolling in basic education for the first time shall be advised to undergo the ALS program.

Eligibility and Documentary Requirements

While this Policy adheres to the basic tenet that all learners must be accepted in basic education, all public and private schools, and SUCs and LUCs offering basic education programs shall adhere to existing rules that govern the minimum eligibility and documentary requirements for enrollment in order to establish the identity of learners.

The following table presents the eligibility standards and minimum documentary requirements for each key grade level.

Level	Eligibility Standards	Documentary Requirements
Kinder	Children aged five years old by August 31st of the school year they will enroll in (DepEd Order 47, s. 2016, Omnibus Policy on Kindergarten)	* Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)* Birth Certificate *formerly National Statistics Office (NSO)
Grade 1	Children who have completed Kindergarten programs in DepEd accredited schools and centers	* Kindergarten Certificate of Completion * PSA Birth Certificate
	Children who are six years old and above by August 31st of the school year they will enroll in and who have not completed Kindergarten	* Result of ECCD Assessment Checklist * PSA Birth Certificate
	Children who have completed any form of Kindergarten program in non-DepEd accredited learning and day-care centers, or home- schooled learners (DepEd Order 47, s. 2016, Omnibus Policy on Kindergarten)	* Result of PEPT or PVT * PSA Birth Certificate
Grade 7	Grade 6 Graduate	* SF 9 Grade 6 (formerly Form 138)
	PEPT Passer or A&E Test Passer	* Result of PEPT or A&E Test * PSA Birth Certificate
Grade 11	Grade 10 Completer	* SF 9 Grade 10 (formerly Form 138)
	PEPT Passer or A&E Test Passer	* Result of PEPT or A&E Test * PSA Birth Certificate

In the absence of a PSA Birth Certificate, the parent or guardian must submit a Birth Certificate (late registration) from the local civil registrar or a barangay certification containing the basic information of the child such as:

* Name of the child (first name, middle name, last name)
* Name of parents
* Date of birth
* Sex

If the documents mentioned above are not submitted by the end of Early Registration, learners will be given until August 31st of the school year they will enroll in to produce and submit the required documents.

Submission of the learner ™s Birth Certificate from the PSA or the local civil registrar, or barangay certification for  purposes of  enrollment will  only  be  done  once  during  the duration of a child ™s basic education. As provided in DO. 58, s. 2017 the birth certificate shall be an attachment to the learner ™s permanent record.
To  help  ensure  that  learners  enroll  in  accredited  private  schools,  a  list  of  DepEd accredited schools will be consolidated by the RO and shall be posted in conspicuous spaces in the SDOs and on the DepEd website.

Requirement for Transferees

Learners from public or private schools in the Philippines who shall transfer shall submit their SF 9 (formerly Form 138) or a letter certifying the last grade level the learner completed signed by the School Registrar. Refer to DO 54, s. 2016 for guidelines on the request and transfer of the learner ™s school records.

Special Cases

In special cases, additional documents may be required for submission. Below are such cases:

Special Cases	Required Documents Upon Enrollment	Additional Requirements For Submission During The School Year
Learners from: 1. Philippine Schools Abroad (any grade level) 2. Foreign Schools Abroad	* Birth Certificate or any equivalent legal document * Latest Report Card or any equivalent academic record * Accepting school shall have the discretion to determine the appropriate grade level in which to place the learner (DO 26, s. 1994) * PEPT Certificate of Rating for learners who have not completed the school year abroad, as long as three grading periods have been completed, and for learners who need grade level standards assessment	* Permanent Transcript of Records from originating school
Learners from non- DepEd accredited schools (any grade level)	* PEPT/PVT Certificate of Rating * Birth Certificate from the PSA or the local civil registrar, or barangay certification	None
Balik-Aral learner  (any grade level)	* SF 9 (formerly Form 138) of the last school year attended or  PEPT Certificate of Rating,  whichever is applicable	* Birth Certificate from the PSA or the local civil registrar, or barangay certification
A&E Elementary Level Test Passer who qualified for Grade 7	* A&E Elementary Level  Certificate of Rating
A&E Secondary Level Test  Passer who qualified for  Grade 11	* A&E Secondary Certificate of  Rating
Displaced learners due to  on-going war/armed conflict and very recent disasters/calamities	* Any proof of identity or any means as directed by the Central Office	* SF 9 (formerly Form 138)  and/or * Results of PEPT or A&E Test, if applicable

B.   Conduct of General Enrollment and Date of First Attendance

Public elementary and secondary school officials, SDOs and ROs in collaboration with the local officials of the community shall ensure that pre-registered learners shall report to public school on the first day of classes.

A week before the opening of classes, the school shall post the respective class/section assignment of the learners. This shall ensure that the learners will be guided on their respective classes.

Learners who are not pre-registered must proceed to the enrollment desk located in the principal's office, guidance office, or any designated strategic location in the school for enrollment and subsequent placement in a specific section.

Class advisers shall take note of the learners' first date of attendance. Only learners with a first date of attendance and complete documentary requirements shall be considered officially enrolled.

Section assignments and date of first attendance shall be finalized through the LIS.

C.   Temporary Enrollment

Transferees from public and private schools in the Philippines who failed to submit the SF
9  (formerly  Form  138)  during  early  registration  or  upon  enrollment  shall  only  be temporarily enrolled until the submission of required documents on or before August 31st of  the  current  school  year.  They  shall  be  required  to  submit  an  Affidavit  of Undertaking, provided as Annex 3*, signed by the parent/guardian in order to be temporarily enrolled.

For temporarily enrolled learners, the receiving school shall issue a Temporary Progress Report Card as provided in Annex 4* signed by the Class Adviser for the parents/guardians to monitor the progress of his/her child. This form is inadmissible for transfer and enrollment purposes and is only issued for progress monitoring.

Upon complete submission of the documentary requirements, the learner shall be tagged as officially enrolled in the LIS. Otherwise, the learner retains the status of temporarily enrolled; the learner cannot be officially promoted to a higher grade level, and the learner cannot officially graduate from the school. The learner will not be recognized should he/she attain the qualifying average and other criteria for academic honors, and the receiving school shall not release official documents such as the SF 9, SF 10, Certificate of Completion, Diploma, etc.

D.   Late Enrollment

A school may accept late enrollees provided that the learner will be able to meet eighty percent (80%) of the prescribed number of school days for each school year and the quarterly requirement to pass the grade level as governed by the latest existing applicable DepEd issuances.

If the learner cannot meet the required number of school days and the quarterly requirement, the school head may exercise his/her discretion to accept the enrollee and implement catch-up activities or interventions under acceptable circumstances.

E.    Learners Moving In/Out

Learners from other schools who enrolled in the school in the middle of the school year shall be tagged in the system as œmoved in , while learners who were previously enrolled in the school but enrolled in other schools in the middle of the school year shall be tagged in the system as œmoved out .

Learners may move in/out from one school to another school anytime during the school year for valid reasons such as, but not limited to, family migration and disasters, among others.

Learners moving in/out from schools in the Philippines shall submit the latest Learner's
Progress Report Card (SF 9 formerly Form 138) upon enrollment.

The receiving school shall coordinate with the originating school to verify the grade level and last quarterly grade of the learner. Refer to DO 54, s. 2016 for guidelines on the request and transfer of the learner ™s school records.

Learners who fail to submit the necessary requirements upon moving in shall be considered temporarily enrolled. The guidelines on temporary enrollment as provided in Section V (C) Temporary Enrollment shall apply.

Learners who transfer to ALS shall not be considered school leavers. The adviser will make the necessary notations on the learners ™ School Form 1, signifying that the particular learner transferred to the ALS program. He/she shall indicate the date of effectivity of the transfer, the ALS program being attended, and the name of the ALS facilitator.

F.    Fees

No fees shall be collected from schoolchildren during enrollment. For membership fees and contributions that may be collected on a voluntary basis after enrollment, refer to the latest existing applicable DepEd issuances. Non-payment of voluntary contributions shall not prohibit enrollment of learners.

Collection of authorized voluntary contribution should not be done during the schedule of release of financial assistance for Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) or 4Ps recipients. In no instance must the school collect contribution out of the 4Ps subsidy.

VI.   Enrollment Data Management

Every learner in the basic education system shall be issued only one unique and permanent LRN that he/she shall use throughout the entire basic education program.

The search learner facility of the LIS shall aid in determining whether the learner already has an LRN or not. A learner ™s uniqueness must always be established before creating a new LRN.

Results of the Early Registration shall be encoded by the School Head in the LIS under the Early Registration module.

Enrollment data on the first day of attendance up to the last school day of the opening month of the school year shall be encoded by the School Head in the LIS under the Quick Count module. Private schools, SUCs, and LUCs with different school calendars shall encode on the first day of classes.

The latest existing applicable DepEd issuances shall govern the updating of Basic Education  Statistics  in  the  LIS  and  Enhanced  Basic  Education  Information  System (EBEIS) at the Beginning of School Year (BoSY) and End of School Year (EoSY).

All educational institutions, whether public or private, offering basic education shall ensure that they have updated school profiles and other data elements in the EBEIS, and that all learners enrolled in the school are registered and have updated profiles in the LIS.

VII.  Monitoring and Evaluation

The Policy, Planning, Research and Development Division and Quality Assurance Division of the ROs and the School Governance Operations Division of the SDOs are required to conduct monitoring, provide technical assistance, and gather issues, best practices, and feedback. SDOs should ensure that School Heads comply with the provisions of this Policy.

Progress  monitoring  during  the  early  registration  and  actual  enrollment  shall  be conducted. The Central Office through the Bureau of Learning Delivery, Bureau of Human Resource and Organizational Development-School Effectiveness Division, and Planning Service shall jointly lead the review of the implementation of this policy.

VIII.    Effectivity

This Policy shall take effect for SY 2018-2019 and succeeding years immediately upon publication in the DepEd official website and shall remain in force and effect unless sooner repealed, amended or rescinded.

This Policy effectively rescinds DO 6, s. 2017 (Multi-Year Implementing Guidelines on Early Registration). All prior DepEd Orders, other issuances, or provisions thereof which are inconsistent with this Policy are hereby rescinded.

IX.   References

DepEd Order 54, s. 2016, Guidelines on the Request and Transfer of Learner's School
Records.

DepEd Order 55, s. 2016, Policy Guidelines on the National Assessment of Student
Learning for the K to 12 Basic Education Program

DepEd Order 52, s. 2016 - Data Collection of Basic Education Statistics in the Learner Information System and Enhanced Basic Education Information System for Beginning of School Year 2016-2017

DepEd Order 47, s. 2016, Omnibus Policy on Kindergarten

DepEd Order 8, s. 2015, Policy Guidelines on Classroom Assessment for the K-12 Basic Education

DepEd  Order  4,  s.  2014,  Adoption  of  the  Modified  School  Forms  (SFs)  for  Public Elementary and Secondary Schools Effective End of School Year 2013-2014

DepEd Order 41, s. 2012, Revised Guidelines on the Opening of Classes

DepEd Order 88, s. 2010, 2010 Revised Manual of Regulations for Private Schools in Basic Education

DepEd Order 99, s. 2009 - Organization of Headstart Classes for the Gifted and Talented Preschoolers

DECS Service Manual 2000, page 77

DECs Order no. 22, s. 1998 - Philippine Validating Test (PVT) for Learnings Acquired Under Certain Circumstances

DECS Order No. 26, s. 1994 - Placements of Transferees from Foreign Countries Seeking Admission to Philippine Elementary and Secondary Schools