Sherwin Gatchalian assured the public on Tuesday, 6 January, that the 2026 national budget will address the shortage of teaching personnel in public schools.

Following a record allocation of P1.35 trillion for the education sector, Gatchalian said the budget aims to tackle long-standing problems while supporting ongoing reforms, including the hiring of additional teachers and the expansion of student feeding programs.

According to Gatchalian, the Department of Education was allotted P85.3 billion to address the country’s classroom backlog.

“What will be felt immediately is the increase in teaching personnel. We also have a large fund allocated to tutors because many students experience difficulty reading,” he added.

For personnel hiring, around P42.4 billion has been earmarked to cover nearly 33,000 teaching positions, 6,000 Principal I items, and 10,000 School Counselor Associate positions.

An additional P2.2 billion was allocated for the hiring of 11,268 Administrative Officer II positions, P1 billion for 5,000 Project Development Officer I posts, and P4.6 billion for teacher training focused on effective teaching methodologies.

Of the total budget, P65 billion will be used to construct 24,964 new classrooms, while P7.7 billion has been set aside for the repair and rehabilitation of existing school buildings.

“We also have a budget allotted for the feeding program,” Gatchalian said, noting that under the expanded program, DepEd aims to cover all Kindergarten and Grade 1 learners, as well as severely wasted Grade 2 and Grade 6 students in public schools.

Gatchalian added that P19.5 billion was allocated for the production of textbooks and other learning materials.

Earlier, Education Secretary Sonny Angara expressed optimism for the coming year following the historic budget allocation.

“We are looking at a very promising 2026 for the education sector,” Angara said in a statement on Monday.