The are 1.6 million students enrolled in Western Visayas for school year 2023-2024 but the number is expected to further increase, the Department of Education 6 reported.
The DepEd Quick Count showed 1,620,346 enrollees as of 7 a.m. Friday.
The DepEd said 1,435,563 enrollees were in public schools, 182,117 in private schools and 2,666 in state colleges and colleges and universities.
The quick count showed 706,692 enrollees in Negros Occidental.
Classes in public schools are set to start on Tuesday, August 29.
Latecomers will be accommodated because of the policy that no child should be left behind, Arnold Arnaez, DepEd Division of Negros Occidental spokesperson, said.
The Negros Occidental Schools Division lacks 1,800 classrooms, he said on Thursday.
Arnaez said in schools where there is a lack of classrooms, class sizes are increased, and others use makeshift classrooms and non-academic facilities like home economics buildings and libraries.
They are also faced with the lack of teachers, he said, but did not have the data on the exact number yet.
The lack of classrooms have been a long existing problem that is gradually being addressed, Arnaez said.
But the lack of classrooms worsen when typhoons hit, he said.*