Angara marks first year with major reforms in education

Education Secretary Sonny Angara trumpeted his administration's accomplishments and reforms during his first year in office, in line with the directive of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

The Department of Education (DepEd), under the leadership of Angara, has strengthened early childhood care from the ground up.

"We have massively expanded our School-Based Feeding Program, which will now cover all 1.4 million Kindergarten learners starting this school year—a nearly five-fold increase," Angara said.

"We are also building at least 328 new Child Development Centers in our poorest municipalities and have made enrollment simpler and more accessible for families," the DepEd chief added.

DepEd has also uplifted teachers and addressed personnel shortages.

"We have successfully filled over 97 percent of the 22,000 new teaching positions and 99 percent of the 5,000 administrative staff positions created last year, with thousands more on the way," Angara said.

Angara also mentioned that the agency is creating better career paths with new positions like Teacher IV to VII and is fast-tracking the promotion of over 2,100 school leaders to meet the "one school, one principal" goal.

"Most importantly, we are improving their welfare by doubling the nontaxable teaching supplies allowance to P10,000, increasing the Teachers' Salary Subsidy, and issuing the first-ever guidelines for a medical allowance," Angara added.

DepEd is also making the curriculum more responsive to make graduates more job-ready.

"We are rolling out a revised K-10 curriculum focused on foundational skills and have launched a strengthened Senior High School (SHS) curriculum with new Academic and Technical-Professional tracks," Angara said.

To address learning gaps, DepEd will begin the pilot implementation of the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program next school year.

To boost employability, DepEd is embedding TVET qualifications directly into the SHS curriculum and has expanded the free TESDA assessment program to cover more learners, ensuring they can earn certifications at no cost.

DepEd is also giving teachers back their time to focus on teaching.

"We have significantly reduced the administrative burden on our teachers by cutting 57 percent of required forms and simplifying performance evaluations," Angara said.

"To further support their professional growth, we are establishing the Teacher Education Excellence Center, a dedicated institution for developing evidence-based training programs for our educators, which will be launched in the last quarter of this year," the DepEd chief added.

The Education department is also pushing for transparency and accountability.

"We are launching Project Bukas, an open data initiative that will make key education data, from enrollment to performance indicators, publicly available by August 2025," Angara said.

The agency has also enhanced procurement transparency by holding its first-ever Suppliers’ Summit and launching a digital registry to widen participation.

"We are revitalizing the Adopt-a-School Program with a new online platform that directly connects school needs with potential partners," Angara said.

DepEd has also fixed the historically slow textbook procurement process.

"We have slashed the procurement timeline for textbooks from as long as 451 days down to just 60 days," Angara said.

"Where only 31 percent of required titles were procured over 12 years, our administration has already procured 75 percent of the needed titles since July 2022," the DepEd chief added.

DepEd also plans to close its infrastructure gaps, both physical and digital.

To address the classroom shortage, the agency has a strategic plan to build 105,000 classrooms through Public-Private Partnerships.

"In the digital space, we are committed to connecting every single public school to the internet by the end of 2025. This is supported by our PSIP Connect project, which will deliver digital devices, solar power, and internet solutions to schools nationwide," Angara said.

DepEd is also harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence to solve persistent education challenges.

"We have established the Education Center for Artificial Intelligence Research to develop cutting-edge solutions," Angara said.

"For example, Project SIGLA uses a mobile app to automate student nutrition monitoring, Project TALINO is a geospatial platform that helps private sector partners find schools most in need, and Project LIGTAS maps geohazards to keep our school communities safe," the DepEd chief added.

DepEd is also building a more resilient education system capable of ensuring learning continuity amid disruptions.

"We have developed modular, deployable disaster response packages that can serve as temporary learning spaces in high-risk areas, with the first units ready by August 2025," Angara said.