By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A total of 28 private schools in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental have closed down for school year 2022-2023, based on a data released by the Department of Education in Western Visayas (DepEd-6).

According to DepEd-6’s breakdown, six schools in Bacolod City and 22 in Negros Occidental have stopped operations either temporarily or permanently.

DepEd-6 information officer Hernani Escullar, Jr. said the private schools closed down due to various reasons such as low enrollment or financial constraints.

Escullar pointed out the possibility that parents have opted to enroll their children in public schools instead, to avoid incurring additional expenses as most of them have not yet fully recovered from the economic effects brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also pointed out that some private schools may have also opted to temporarily close down in order to give way for repairs brought by super typhoon “Odette” back in December of last year, or they are still in the process of renovating their learning facilities.
“Willing man magbulig ang schools division offices agud nga indi man maapektohan ang aton nga learners especially nag-start na ang school year 2022-2023,” Escullar added./DGB, WDJ