Private schools have reached only half of their enrollment figures from last year, a group said Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.

About 2 million learners have registered in private schools, which is about 46 percent of their 4.3 million students last year, said Joseph Noel Estrada, managing director of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA).

"I think hanggang 50 percent lang talaga ang aabutin this year," he told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.

(I think the enrollment this year will only reach 50 percent of last year's figure.)

Some 400,000 private school students have transferred to public schools as of Aug. 27, he said.

Eleazardo Kasilag, president of the Federation of Associations of Private School Administrators (FAPSA), said enrollment could improve if public schools' scheduled Oct. 5 opening would be delayed.

"Magbabalikan ‘yan sa private schools. Kasi hindi naman lahat gustong tumigil [ng pag-aaral], hindi naman lahat gustong mag-public school," he said.

(Students will return to private schools because not everyone wants to quit school, not everyone wants to go to public schools.)

Private schools will continue accepting students until November, he said.

Estrada earlier said he hoped enrollment in private schools improve once the proposed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) is signed into law.

Bayanihan 2 will provide allowances for qualified students, displaced teachers and non-teaching personnel. President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to sign the measure into law next week, said his spokesman Harry Roque.

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TeleRadyo, Sept. 10, 2020