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September 14, 2021 – With the support of the current administration, the Department of Education (DepEd) has posted major milestones to address the challenges of quality education, according to Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones.

Summarizing DepEd’s accomplishments in the last five years on Saturday, Secretary Briones shared that the agency enjoyed high budget allocation and utilization rate during President’s Duterte term to carry out key education reforms.

“The gains in education were made possible because of the very high level of support and commitment that your administration has given to education right from the beginning,” the education chief reported, noting that the Department posed a 96% budget utilization rate for 2020, a significant improvement compared to the 88% utilization rate in 2015.

Given these developments, the Department has gained momentum to review and update the K to 12 curriculum, invest in improving the learning environment, overhaul the in-service professional development system, form broader partnerships with stakeholders for consultation and collaboration.

“We have continually addressed the challenge of quality in basic education. We are now concentrating on quality since we were successful in increasing enrollment levels. So it’s not quantity alone but quality as well,” Briones emphasized.

In addition, the Department constructed 150,149 new classrooms and 12,786 technical and vocational laboratories and workshops while repairing and rehabilitating 103,548 classrooms in the last five years.  

Briones also highlighted that the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Act helped more out-of-school youth and adults. The average number of Out-of-School Youth and Adults (OSYAs) enrollees from 2016-2021 is 57% higher compared to past administrations.

Meanwhile, from 2016 to 2021, around 2 million learner beneficiaries were fed under the School-based Feeding Program, a marked improvement from the annual average of 296,239 from 2010 to 2016.

The Department also hired 205,850 teachers or 96% of the 213,736 teaching positions created from 2016 to 2020, which resulted in the improvement of our teacher-learner ratio from 1:32 in 2016 to 1:28 in 2020 for the elementary level.

Briones also mentioned the establishment of the Education Futures Programme, the inauguration of the National Academy of Sports, and the proposal to establish new teaching positions to promote career growth among teachers as key gains of the Department in the last five years.  

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