DepEd: 105 textbook titles procured, ending decade-long bottleneck

The Department of Education (DepEd) said on Wednesday it had completed the procurement of 105 textbook titles for public elementary and secondary schools, marking a sharp turnaround from years of delays that left most grade levels without complete sets of learning materials.

The agency said the 105 titles cover the successive phases of curriculum implementation, beginning with Grades 1, 4, 7 and Senior High School in 2024, followed by Grades 3, 2, 5 and 8 in 2025, and Grades 6, 9 and 10 this year.

“For ten years, our public school system was trapped in a cycle where procuring a single textbook title took up to three years, leaving millions of learners and teachers without the fundamental tools they needed,” Angara said in a statement.

“When 27 titles in a decade is your baseline, delivering 105 titles in a single year isn't just an administrative achievement; it is a fundamental restoration of service to our learners,” he added.

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) had reported that DepEd procured only 27 textbook titles from 2014 to 2023, leaving only Grades 5 and 6 with complete textbook sets for all subjects.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara attributed the turnaround to reforms aimed at cutting lengthy reviews and procurement procedures.

Under DepEd Order No. 008, series of 2025, the department revised its system for selecting textbooks and teachers' manuals, replacing lengthy manuscript development and review procedures with a process that allows existing market-ready materials to undergo evaluation before procurement.

DepEd said the new system includes blind content evaluation, tighter review timelines and the removal of redundant review cycles. Initial technical checks are to be completed within five days, while content evaluation is capped at 90 calendar days.

The policy also separates price considerations from quality scoring, allowing materials that pass quality assurance to proceed directly to procurement.

The changes followed recommendations from EDCOM II, which had identified prolonged review procedures, insufficient development time and other procurement barriers as major reasons for the chronic shortage of textbooks.

EDCOM II previously said the old procurement process could take more than 200 days and involved separate arrangements for textbook development, printing and delivery. DepEd later reported that reforms had cut the procurement timeline to about 60 days.

DepEd said the pace of procurement rose from 31 percent during the 2014-2023 period to 57 percent across 2024 and 2025 before reaching full completion this year.

The achievement, however, does not mean all 105 titles are already in classrooms.

DepEd said procurement of textbooks and teachers' manuals for Senior High School core subjects has completed the bid-opening stage, with bidders for all lots, and is undergoing detailed evaluation of bidding documents. The contracts still have to be awarded before production and nationwide delivery can proceed.

“All 105 approved printed and electronic textbook titles are now moving through procurement and nationwide distribution for classroom implementation,” DepEd said.

The department expects complete delivery by December 2026.

EDCOM II has warned that logistics and limited regional publishing capacity could still affect delivery despite improvements in procurement. In February, it said textbooks could take 10 to 14 months to reach schools because of long supply chains, weather disruptions and limited publishing capacity outside major centers.

Angara said DepEd had sought to eliminate the bottlenecks that had kept textbooks out of classrooms.

“We dismantled unnecessary bottlenecks, strictly enforced timeline discipline, and proved that transparency, speed, and quality control can go hand-in-hand to ensure our schools receive complete, high-quality learning resources without delay,” he said.###