Improved DepEd services

The Department of Education (DepEd) significantly improved its budget utilization and its delivery of education services and resources in the past year, as it continues to provide better access to quality basic education to more Filipino learners.

According to Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones, DepEd’s continued investments in basic education, including the sustained implementation of the K to 12 Basic Education Program, also contributed to the interest of more learners to continue being in school, to pursue learning, and to persist in attaining goals for themselves and for the country.

A three-year period analysis of DepEd’s budget utilization yielded a steady improvement from 88% in 2015, 90% in 2016, to 97% in 2017.

With the education sector still enjoying the national budget’s lion’s share in 2019, DepEd remains committed to promoting and providing quality and relevant basic education that is accessible to all.

In 2017, DepEd served a total of 26.9 million learners: 26.3 million learners enrolled in public and private schools, and 641,584 learners under the Alternative Learning System (ALS) – surpassing the target enrolment for Kindergarten, elementary, and secondary education.

Participation Rate in 2017 for Kindergarten increased from 65% (2016) to 84% (2017); and for Junior High School from 74% (2016) to 76% (2017). Furthermore, Transition Rate from Grade 10 to Grade 11 reached 93.3% compared to the Transition Rate from 4th year high school to college at less than 50% prior to the implementation of Senior High School (SHS).

By making the learning environment more conducive and modern, crucial basic education facilities and resources are improved: From July 2016 to June 2018, 22,133 classrooms and 1,309 Technical-Vocational (Tech-Voc) laboratories were constructed; and 82,725 sets of schools seats (one set includes 45 seats, one teacher’s chair and table) were delivered. As of end of December 2017, 68.6 million textbooks and instructional materials were printed and delivered to schools nationwide.

These, in turn, contributed to the improved basic ratios: Teacher-to-learner ratio from 1:32 (2016) to 1:31 (2017) for elementary and from 1:26 (2016) to 1:25 (2017) for secondary; Classroom-to-learner ratio from 1:35 (2016) to 1:33 (2017) for elementary and from 1:43 (2016) to 1:36 (2017) for secondary.

For school year 2017-2018, 977,318 junior high school grantees and around 1.29 million SHS grantees were able to enrol in private schools through the Education Service Contracting (ESC) and the SHS Voucher Program, respectively.

The end of the school year also saw more than 1.2 million learners, the first batch of SHS, graduate. Those who chose to seek employment following graduation gained better prospects compared with the previous graduates of high school due to work immersion – a key element of the K to 12 curriculum, while those who took the Tech-Voc Livelihood track and acquired national certification from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) have better employment opportunities.

The Department’s improved performance is attributed to program and financial management, procurement process reforms, and strategic interventions which include early downloading of funds to implementing units, strict and continuous monitoring and reporting of the use of funds, the rollout of multi-year guidelines to fast-track implementation of programs and activities, the creation of a Fiscal Reforms Committee (FRC) to lead in addressing change management in finance services, and the reconstitution of six Bids and Awards Committees (BACs), among others. Created at the policy level, these initiatives were meant to help address long time bottlenecks, challenges, and constraints within the Department.

The year 2018 was also tagged as a “practice” year for ACBA. Everyone concerned, from the Central Office, to the Regions, down to the schools, is operating as if there is only a year to implement projects — obligate our funds, deliver the goods and services for inspection, pay for the said goods and services, and delivery time to end-user.

For 2019, DepEd is strengthening these reforms to rise to the same-year delivery challenge brought about by ACBA.