Wazzup Pilipinas!?
MAKATI CITY, 30 January 2026 - Long-identified reforms in basic education are now moving into full implementation as the Department of Education (DepEd) rolls out structural changes backed by its largest budget in history, under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and the leadership of Education Secretary Sonny Angara.
With the start of fiscal year 2026, DepEd is implementing reforms that had long been recommended but repeatedly delayed, enabled by a P1.3-trillion national allocation for the education sector—equivalent to 4.36% of gross domestic product and the first time the Philippines has exceeded global benchmarks for education spending. The 2026 allocation also represents the biggest year-on-year increase for education, with DepEd’s budget rising by about 30%.
“We will continue building on the progress that we have made and strengthening our efforts so that all Filipino learners receive the quality education that they deserve and that they rightly expect,” President Marcos said as he received the EDCOM II Final Report on Thursday.
Under Angara, several long-pending reforms moved into implementation for the first time, including the expansion of the School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP), which increased from P3.3 billion in 2022 to P25.7 billion in 2026. The increase enables the first universal feeding coverage for all Kindergarten and Grade 1 learners nationwide, institutionalizing nutrition as a core education input.
Learning recovery has likewise shifted from emergency response to system-level intervention through the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program, implemented nationwide in School Year 2025–2026 with a focus on reading. Within three months, ARAL posted measurable gains in reading readiness across Grades 3 to 10.
To sustain these gains, P8.93 billion has been allocated for the ARAL Program in School Year 2026–2027, supporting the training and compensation of more than 440,000 DepEd and non-DepEd tutors and reaching an estimated 6.7 million learners in reading and mathematics.
Teacher career reform has also moved at scale through the Expanded Career Progression (ECP) System, a long-awaited policy aimed at clearing promotion backlogs and recognizing classroom excellence. Under the current rollout, more than 16,000 teachers have already been promoted, with an additional 41,000 applications under processing. DepEd is targeting the promotion of around 100,000 teachers this year, marking a historic milestone in teacher career advancement.
The 2026 budget allocation also reflects the Marcos administration’s commitment to address the country’s classroom gap. Angara pushed for flexibility for classroom construction to be undertaken by local government units and civil society organizations, reflecting an all-hands-on-deck approach to strengthening basic education infrastructure in support of human capital development. Meanwhile, funding for the Last Mile Schools Program doubled to P3 billion in 2026 from P1.5 billion in 2022, prioritizing geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.
In addition, DepEd, for the first time, has adopted a 16-year-old executive order on the procurement of bamboo-made school furniture, supporting faster classroom equipping, cost efficiency, and local manufacturing.
Alongside education reforms, the administration has strengthened school-based access to health services through expanded YAKAP caravans of DepEd and PhilHealth, bringing primary care services closer to learners and school personnel, particularly in underserved communities.
“Ang mahalaga ngayon ay tuloy-tuloy ang pagpapatupad. Hindi na ito plano lamang—nasa silid-aralan na ang reporma, ramdam ng guro, at may malinaw na epekto sa pagkatuto ng bata,” Angara said.
The reform agenda builds on priorities set early in President Marcos Jr.’s term and aligns with the EDCOM 2 Final Report, which highlighted the depth of the learning crisis and the need for sustained, long-term action beyond political cycles. Recommendations on learning recovery, nutrition, teacher support, and infrastructure are now being translated into funded programs and operational reforms.
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