September 21, 2021 – The Department of Education (DepEd) officially hit five million followers on its official Facebook page while setting a page record-high of 308,728 unique livestream viewers during the National School Opening Day Program (NSODP) on Monday, September 13.

Carrying the theme “OBE 2021: Bayanihan para sa Ligtas na Balik Eskwela,” the program highlighted key discussions for School Year 2021-2022 and featured live updates from field offices and schools that reached 1,919,177 users while having a total view of 1,888,723.

Crossposted in over 95 DepEd-affiliated, external, and media partners’ official social media pages, the virtual school opening program successfully ended garnering over 41,000 shares, 1.87 million reactions.

Compared to last year’s virtual school opening program, peak live viewers (+469%) and reactions (+459%) approximately grew over five times bigger, while total engagement increased by 228%.

As of Thursday, DepEd Philippines (facebook.com/DepartmentOfEducation.PH) has 5,013,430 followers and 4,462,659 likes.

“We are thankful to our field offices, teachers, learners and parents who tuned in and really showed their support in our whole-of-society approach to education amidst the pandemic,” Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones shared.

NSODP featured guests including Parents-Teacher Association Federation President Benjie Rullepa of La Union and Supreme Student Government President Mary Louise Caples of Leyte while Antique representative and House Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Gregorio “Gringo” Ballesteros Honasan II expressed their message of support during the Education as Shared Responsibility panel.

Meanwhile, Undersecretary for Administration and DepEd Task Force COVID-19 Chair Alain Del B. Pascua, BHROD Director Anne Rachel Miguel, BLSS Director Lope Santos III, DRRMS Director Ronilda Co, and Department of Health (DOH) Director Beverly Lorraine Ho shared vaccination updates and other health-related initiatives for a safe return to schools and work environment.

DepEd Regional Directors Francis Bringas (CALABARZON), Ramir Uytico (Western Visayas), and Arturo Bayocot (Northern Mindanao) were also joined by Undersecretary for Field Operations Atty. Revsee Escobedo, Undersecretary for External Partnerships Atty. Tonisito Umali, ICTS Director Abram Abanil, Mr. Geomel Jetonzo of World Vision, and Ms. Celerina Amores of Ayala Foundation in discussing the importance of partnerships and extensive planning for the new school year.

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