By: Ron Mendoza
They could pursue incremental changes in hopes of easing long-standing challenges, or push for broader reforms to better position DepEd to respond to the scale and urgency of the country’s education crisis.
EDCOM2 set the stage for a deeper diagnosis of the education system, uncovering a range of challenges—from an estimated 32 to 53 lost learning days each year due to typhoons and other disruptions, to a 165,000-classroom deficit, and up to 85 percent of students unable to read at grade level.
It quickly became clear that incremental fixes would not be enough.
Reforms led by Sec. Angara, with strong support from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., legislators, local leaders, and education stakeholders in business and civil society, have since advanced considerably on multiple fronts.
DepEd actions since July 2024
To address teachers’ needs, training has been expanded to cover 1,048,778 teachers and school leaders, drawing on World Bank best practices as well as the latest AI.
Meanwhile, some 16,025 teachers who had been waiting for promotions (sometimes for over a decade) received their well-deserved advancements. DepEd’s career path reforms have also been firmed up and relaunched to support and incentivize performance.
To address congestion, a comprehensive campaign to build and lease classrooms in collaboration with LGUs and the private sector has been launched, with at least 100,000 classrooms in the pipeline.
Under public-private partnerships, the department’s Vouchers Initiative, carried out through the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) Program, has emerged as a transformative force in widening access to quality senior high school (SHS) education.
With its twofold strategy of establishing SHS programs in public schools and providing financial support for learners to enroll in non-DepEd SHS providers, the program has opened doors to opportunities for students across the country.
Today, around 2.5 million learners are benefiting from this initiative—2.4 million in private schools and more than 100,000 in public schools.
Literacy gaps, nutrition challenges
To address literacy gaps, the department introduced the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program, a free national intervention designed to help struggling learners catch up in reading, mathematics, and science.
Early results show a 30- to 40-percent increase in reading proficiency in top-performing schools, with around six million learners nationwide.
Complementing these efforts is the Bayang Bumabasa Initiative, under which 131 schools were granted P1 million each to strengthen reading culture. The department has also distributed 103.9 million textbooks, 5.31 million science and math tools, and more than 144,000 TVL equipment units nationwide.
DepEd is preparing learners for the future through Project AGAP.AI, which equips students, teachers, and parents to understand and responsibly use artificial intelligence.
To address nutrition challenges, including stunting among over one in three Filipino learners, the School-Based Feeding Program now supports around 5.3 million students.
Fiscal space will be crucial. In 2026, DepEd received a record P1.015 trillion budget, meeting the 4 percent of GDP benchmark under the Sustainable Development Goals.
Calendar reform
The proposed three-term school calendar should be seen within this broader reform canvas. It aims to align investments with a disciplined schedule that reduces disruptions and improves learning focus.
The model introduces an Opening Block, a 60-day uninterrupted Instructional Block, and an End-of-Term Block for assessments and remediation.
Shifting to three terms streamlines grading cycles, reduces administrative burden, and allows educators to focus on effective instruction.
The three-term calendar ultimately supports DepEd’s broader reform agenda—ensuring that investments translate into better learning outcomes and a stronger future for Filipino learners. —Ed: Corrie S. Narisma
The author, Ron Mendoza, is the Education Undersecretary for Strategic Management
