A sunny outlook for DepEd

This week let’s talk about education. Something close to my heart. Education here in the Philippines is reaching a critical juncture. The education sector requires a credible, energetic and experienced leader with a track record of supporting the education sector. Fortunately, Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara meets these stringent requirements. His leadership as the future secretary of the Department of Education might just lay the foundation for transforming Philippine education. As Senator Angara himself aptly asserted – “Education is the cornerstone of our nation’s future.”
However, the road ahead for the incoming secretary will be challenging. He is inheriting an education sector that has long been mired in a state of crisis.
A World Bank report in 2022 revealed that a staggering 91 percent of Filipino students at the age of 10 were unable to read and understand simple text. The Philippines’ pre-pandemic figure was at 70 percent. The World Bank has a term for reading comprehension inability at 10 years old – “learning poverty.” By contrast, our Southeast Asian neighbors like Vietnam was at 18 percent and Singapore only three percent. In 2023, an update on the World Bank reported the Philippines’ learning poverty remained unchanged.
Years prior, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD)’s 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) had notoriously exposed the consequences of Philippine education shortfalls. Out of 79 participating countries, the Philippines placed last. Both in 2018 and in 2022, PISA found that students from the Philippines were among the least proficient in math, reading and science. Again, in comparison, Vietnam was ranked in the 30s and Singapore was the world’s topnotcher.
Amidst the escalation of the education sector’s woes, Senator Angara was one of the first to act, and proposed a definitive plan. He rallied legislators and education sector stakeholders in the ambitious revival of the Congressional Committee on Education (EDCOM) through Senate Joint Resolution No. 10 in 2020, which was co-authored by Senators Franklin Drilon, Win Gatchalian, Joel Villanueva and Grace Poe.
It led to the creation of EDCOM II (Republic Act No. 11899), including Sen. Angara as one of its commissioners. Rather than settle for the usual piecemeal tweaks, EDCOM II has since worked hard to systematically reform the education sector in a holistic manner. It has highlighted the multifaceted quality of the education sector, and the correspondingly complex approaches needed to fix education in the Philippines. For instance, it has confirmed the necessity and the need for adjustments in the implementation of RA 11037 or the “Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act” and of RA 11642 or the “First 1000 Days Act,” which were both co-authored by Senator Poe, to combat the undernutrition of five-year-olds and malnutrition by introducing state-sponsored feeding program interventions in schools. Sen. Angara filed a bill to double down on our existing efforts by expanding the feeding program.
Sen. Angara also principally authored numerous critical laws for the Philippine education sector including: RA 11314 or the “Student Fare Discount Act” (granting students a hefty 20 percent); RA 11650 or the “Inclusive Education Act”; RA 10687 or the “Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education Act” (UniFAST); RA 10931 or the “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act” also known as the “Free College Law;” RA 10650 or the “Open Learning and Distance Education Act” and RA 10157 or the “Kindergarten Education Act.” His shift from prolific legislator to preeminent implementer of several laws for the education sector that he himself had a hand in crafting would mitigate issues of misinterpretation and poor implementation, and reinvigorate arguably the most important department of the Executive branch.
In this regard, it is noted that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) received a total budget proposal of over P9 trillion, i.e., P9.2 trillion, which was whittled down to the current Malacañang-approved P6.352 trillion. Does the P3-trillion difference sacrifice much-needed enhancements to the education sector? Annually, the “lion’s share” of the budget goes to education, but whether it truly helps Filipino leaners and educators will now rely greatly on Sen. Angara and whether Congress will sufficiently equip him to deal with our education crisis. Unfortunately for Sen. Angara, he was appointed as the National Expenditure Program is being turned over to Congress. Now any changes to the budget will depend on his ability to navigate the relationships he has in both the Upper and Lower Houses. Fortunately, Sen. Angara was formally the finance committee chairman of the Senate. He knows what he’s doing.
Let’s compare spending for education. In 2024, our education sector received 16 percent of the national budget. I could not help but compare it with Singapore. When it believed it had an education crisis, Singapore dedicated more than 30 percent (31.7 percent) of its national expenditure to education and consistently invested at least 20 percent thereof for many years. Vietnam could also be a closer point of comparison. Even so, Vietnam struggles but dedicates close to 20 percent of its annual national expenditure to education. Further, Vietnam spends more on their students, per capita, at the primary level. In 2022, Vietnam spent $745.8 per student in Grades 1 to 3, while the Philippines spent only an average of $328.
Centuries ago, Jose Rizal said: “Without education and liberty, which are the soil and the sun of man, no reform is possible, no measure can give the result desired.” We should heed our national hero’s wise words. If we want our country to have a greater future, then we need to nurture our “soil” while time still permits it and while a capable leader is at the helm.
- Latest
- Trending


