MANILA, Philippines -- The National Academy of Sports (NAS), the newest attached institution of the Department of Education (DepEd), welcomed its pioneering batch of student-athlete scholars as School Year 2021-2022 officially opened on Monday.

"Minarapat po nating sumama dito sa pagbubukas ng klase ng National Academy of Sports para ipakita po sa atin pong mga mamamayan na kahit po ang eskwelahan na nakatutok sa larangan ng palakasan ay handa na magbigay ng patuloy na edukasyon sa atin pong mga mag-aaral," said assistant secretary for NAS and field operations Malcolm Garma.

NAS executive director Josephine Joy Reyes also shared the latest developments of the newly attached agency in preparation for its first academic year.

"We just had our parents (and) students orientation this morning, a very successful one," she said. "We have met our 65 scholars, along with their parents this year, and we gave them an adaptive and meaningful orientation."

"In fact, itong linggong ito, we will be having a series of orientations that will be given to them, that will also be represented by other divisions," she added. "So bibigyan natin sila ng sapat na oryentasyon sa sports science, sa aming support services, and even sa academics."

The core divisions, namely sports science, support services, and academics, will serve as the basis for forming the appropriate programs of the sports institution.

NAS deputy executive director Emil Arroyo said they are still opening the doors to the remaining 13 learners to complete their enrollment as there are currently 52 learners enrolled out of the 65 who qualified for the scholarship.

The mode of learning will be guided by the eight teachers tapped from different schools of DepEd Region 3.

"The modality for learning this school year will primarily be online remote learning, pero ito po ay i-su-supplement ng digitized modules, and we will be conducting both synchronous and asynchronous classes, as well as sports training for our pioneering batch," Arroyo said.

Toolkits and adequate materials will be provided to the students, Reyes said, in order to guide their daily learnings and activities as everything from the mode of instruction up to the training will be conducted online.

"We truly believe that the sports academy will serve as a platform to create academically competent and disciplined Filipino youth, then eventually become responsible world-class student-athletes playing a vital role in nation-building," said Education Secretary Leonor Briones.