A Feasibility Study on the Enrollment System of Mapandan Catholic School

CHAPTER 1

SYSTEM ANALYSIS

A. Preliminary Investigation

Mapandan Catholic School is a Catholic school in Mapandan, Pangasinan under the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. It aims to form Christian stewards through holistic Catholic education and formation. It also aims to mold evangelized communities committed to excellence through: (a) authentic witnessing; (b) a learning environment that is well equipped, safe and student-centered; (c) definitive school procedures and systems; (d) comprehensive and innovative curriculum; and (e) socially relevant outreach programs.

Formerly St. Joseph Parochial School, Mapandan Catholic School was founded by Rev. Fr. Jesus Soriano in 1984 because of the community's persistent demand for Catholic education. It started operating as a Catechetical class for pre-schoolers using only the convent's living room as the school's classroom.

1994, Fr. Jesus was replaced by Fr. Jing Mandapat. The school was then processed for formal operations and it was recognized by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports. The first building of the Parochial school was also constructed that year.

In 1996, Rev. Fr. Victor Embuido replaced Fr. Mandapat. Ten classrooms were constructed and the elementary program was opened. In 2003, the high school program was opened and the elementary program was approved of government recognition by the Department of Education under the Basic Education Curriculum. The high school program was later approved of government recognition in 2006.

The school's present organizational chart is as follows:

At present, the school has twenty-five classrooms including a computer laboratory, a science laboratory, a library, a home economics room, and an industrial room and there are two more classrooms being constructed. The computer laboratory has ten desktop computer units connected to the internet and a printer. There are also desktop computer units in the registrar's office and the treasurer's office. The school also has a photocopying machine.

Background of the System

Mapandan Catholic School adapted different systems in their operations but the group focused on the school's Enrollment system.

The school's usual months of enrollment are on April and May. For the past five years, the school's number of enrollees is continuously increasing and based on this trend, the schools assumed a projected increase of thirteen percent on enrollees in the next school year's enrollment.

The school's enrollment system is a manual system. It has four levels of processes namely the admission, the assessment, the registration, and the reporting.

The first process is the admission. The student-enrollee together with their parent must submit the needed requirements--birth certificate, baptismal certificate, confirmation certificate, form 138 or form 137--together with the student-enrollee's personal information. The teacher facilitating the enrollment will produce two copies of a student ledger--one to be given to the student together with a blank assessment form and the other for school's filing.

Next is the assessment. The student will go to the teacher assigned for assessment. The teacher will fill up the blank assessment form with payments needed to be payed throughout the school year. The assessment form will be given back to the student.

Next is the registration. The student will pay the registration fee and the miscellaneous fee. Two copies of receipts will be produced--one given to the parent and the other for school filing. The student is already enrolled.

At the last day of enrollment, the registrar will make an annual report about the enrollment. The report's contents include the list of enrollees, the enrollee count and the increase in enrollees. Five copies will be produced, one for each office-- director, principal, treasurer, guidance and clinic.

Problems Encountered

While conducting an interview with the registrar and the treasurer, the following problems encountered by the school relating to enrollment were relayed to us by them:

1. Lack of faculty members;

2. Lack of facilities;

3. Record-keeping problems; and

4. The cost of the ledgers.

According to the registrar, during enrollment, the school can only assign six faculty members to be in-charge in the enrollment per day because the other teachers are also running other errands. Because of this, the enrollment procedure becomes a little inefficient.

The school also lacks facilities according to the registrar's viewpoint. She said that her office only has two filing cabinets that contain the records of not only the current students but also the past students that already graduated. And now, the filing cabinet is full and the other records are just stacked in a table. Also because of this, the school encountered record-keeping problems. According to the