WITH almost a million academic and non-teaching staff to deal with, we’ve said before that the Department of Education (DepEd) is the hardest government agency to manage. Its perennial problems include the low pay of the teachers, the school buildings that typhoons destroy the moment they have been built, and the dismal scores of our students in the international assessment rankings, among many others.
Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara is doing his best, and his tenure has been marked as one of “best efforts.” It is certainly much better than the term of Vice President Sara Duterte, who, as the education secretary, just muddled through. Last-mile schools were not built, even if there was already a budget for them; books were not procured; and even simple things as audio-visual aids in classrooms were taken down because they were seen as “distractions.” First, let’s laud the good news. The DepEd has recently built 400 prefabricated school buildings designed to withstand super typhoons and strong earthquakes, cutting down construction time from years to a matter of weeks. A total of 391 modular school buildings have been completed, while 150 more units are currently under construction.
“Our children shouldn’t have to wait years for a classroom. With these, we can build safe, good classrooms in weeks. This is our answer to President Ferdinand Marcos’ call for fast, solid action,” Secretary Angara said.
Called the “Learning Continuity Space” (LCS), each modular structure features flexible layouts that can accommodate two to five classrooms based on a school’s specific needs. Each unit has three toilets, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, as well as provisions for rainwater harvesting.
Designed for rapid deployment within four to eight weeks, the LCS units can withstand wind speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour and meet structural earthquake standards required for the country’s earthquake-prone areas. DepEd added that the structures were engineered to remain cool, well-ventilated and naturally lit.
The initial batch of LCS units was turned over in June to Kalawakan Elementary School in Bulacan, Buli Elementary School in Quezon, and Magwawa Integrated School in Davao del Norte.
Subsequent completions include Don Marcelo Marty High School in Zambales, Doroteo Elementary School in Davao de Oro, Loon North High School in Bohol, San Jose Elementary School and Lennec Elementary School in Nueva Ecija, Lubao Elementary School in Pampanga, and Digap-Fulgosino Community School in Pangasinan.
A total of 878 units are slated for construction under the first two phases of the LCS project. The quick-build project forms a key part of DepEd’s broader strategy to address the country’s shortage of 165,000 classrooms. This complements ongoing joint efforts with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), local government units, and private sector partners.
Well and good. That is the physical infrastructure. Let us now look at the intellectual and administrative infrastructure.
Unfortunately, an estimated 23,000 schools don’t have principals since many applicants have failed the qualifying examination, DepEd said during its budget hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.
Secretary Angara said they are considering relaxing the National Assessment for School Heads (NASH) in hopes that more principals could be hired and assigned to these schools.
“What we did is we gave them the chance to — if they failed only certain parts or certain domains, they don’t have to take the exam again. They can just try to, in a way, remediate and pass the professional development area or intervention that’s needed,” he added. How schools have been running without principals simply boggles the mind.
Despite the shortage of school principals, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian raised concerns over the zero budget for new principal positions in DepEd’s proposed 2027 budget. DepEd said they requested a budget for more than 14,000 school principal positions next year but were not given funding. The agency eyes the promotion or reclassification of teachers as one of the ways to fill the vacancies.
Following concerns over school safety and incidents of bullying and gun violence, the government also funded the creation of 10,000 school counselor associate (SCA) positions. According to Angara, 5,447, or 54 percent, of the vacancies have already been filled, while the remaining 45 percent of unfilled positions are undergoing the hiring process.
It all boils down to the fact that the budget of the Department of Education should remain at last year’s P1.1 trillion, or even higher.
The agency has so many issues caused by decades of neglect of this most vital government agency
