THE Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2) will release its highly anticipated Final Report, which will detail the three-year findings of Edcom on the current state of Philippine education. The report also includes a comprehensive 10-Year National Education and Workforce Development Plan designed to guide government priorities and investments. The aim is to reverse our poor functional literacy and learner proficiency rates.
Entitled “Turning Point: A Decade of Necessary Reforms,” the upcoming report comes at a critical juncture for education. Preliminary findings indicate a continued “dwindling” of proficiency across key stages, with learner proficiency plummeting from 30.52 percent at Grade 3, to just 0.47 percent by Grade 12.
This coincides with the recent findings on functional literacy, with Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showing that only 70.8 percent of Filipinos aged 10 to 64 are functionally literate. These signal the magnitude of the learning crisis, necessitating a sustained, decade-long commitment to reform.
Against this backdrop, the report also details the collective accomplishments of Edcom and the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority in the past three years. They include critical gains in literacy, following the ARAL and Summer Remediation Program, and the improvement of textbook procurement in DepEd to 289 percent in 2024.
Other achievements include the passage of key legislative measures like the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) System Act (Republic Act 12199), ARAL Program Act (RA 12028), Career Progression System for Public School Teachers and School Leaders Act (RA 12288), and the Enterprise-Based Education and Training Framework Act (RA 12063).
The report includes new findings on the lack of learning resources for early childhood, limited coverage of DOH and DSWD nutrition interventions for children aged zero to four, the urgency of needing to address “mass promotion” practices in public schools, and the proliferation of diploma mills in higher education.
In response, Edcom 2 will unveil a strategic National Education and Workforce Development Plan. This roadmap moves beyond short-term fixes, offering a 10-year strategy that frontloads critical investments in the first three years (2026-2028). It also calls on the government to prioritize fundamental reforms in early childhood education, early grade literacy and numeracy, classroom congestion, and teacher education and training.
“We cannot solve a generational crisis with band-aid solutions. The data is clear: our proficiency rates have stagnated for decades. More than just a statistic, it has impacted the future of millions of our youth, whose opportunities for learning and productivity have been thwarted by a failed education system in the past three decades. Clearly, the status quo is no longer tenable,” said Dr. Karol Mark Yee, Edcom 2 executive director. “However, this report will not just identify the problems. It will also provide the blueprint for the next decade that will require sustained reforms and focus on education, one that must be seen through regardless of changes in political leadership at the local or national levels.”
In 2023, the commission published its first report, “Miseducation: The Failed System of Philippine Education,” which revealed that the “trifocalized” education system has failed to coordinate effectively. This led to a fragmented system that cannot deliver on its promise to Filipino learners. The following year, Edcom 2 released “Fixing the Foundations: A Matter of National Survival,” which articulated the urgent need to focus on foundational learning and nutrition in the early years to address the learning crisis.
Under RA 11899, Edcom 2 is mandated to “report to Congress its accomplishments on a periodic basis, its findings and recommendations on actions to be taken by Congress, the departments, and other government agencies concerned with education, and provide a final report at the end of the existence of the commission.”
One of the key findings is a granular analysis of the latest national and international assessment data, pinpointing specific regions and demographics where proficiency is most at risk. The 10-Year Plan, a proposed framework for legislation and executive action that spans three presidential terms, will ensure that education reforms are insulated from political transitions.
The report also focuses on systemic weaknesses. It digs deep into the root causes of the decline, including malnutrition, lack of instructional support for teachers and procurement bottlenecks.
However, we would also like to ask our educators not to be too hasty in changing the curricula. Curricula should be allowed to run the course for three years before evaluating. You don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
