Back with another article in the No More Hell Run By Filipinos series. This time let's take a look at the education system in the Philippines. The Department of Education is heavily funded with trillions of pesos yet always underprepared. Vice President Sara Duterte was DepEd Secretary for two years before she threw a tantrum and quit. But she never wanted the DepEd portfolio, she wanted to be Secretary of the Department of National Defense.
Sara's not the problem but a symptom of the problem. She did not care about the DepEd and apparently nobody else does either. President Marcos and current DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara recently toured a few schools throughout the nation and their findings are quite dire. Not that that's news. We all knew that even though we might not know the extent of the problem.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2074822/marcos-angara-observe-some-schools-dont-even-have-electricity-water |
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Education Secretary Sonny Angara see the need to focus on the urgency of providing schools and students with basic education infrastructure and services.
They also looked into the schools’ logistical shortages, the growing mental health crisis among students, and the effects of persistent calamities that disrupt learning.
Their views came to the fore after Marcos and Angara recently made rounds of schools in various cities, including Quezon City and Taguig, and provinces, including Bulacan, Laguna, and Agusan del Sur.
The two public officials assessed the situation of the schools after the start of classes on June 16.
“We’re making sure that everyone has electricity, everyone has water. Those are the basic services that we can see so that our youth can study properly,” Marcos said during a school opening in Quezon City.
His views were cited by DepEd in a statement on Tuesda
The government needs to provide "schools and students with basic education infrastructure and services." Well, why don't they have basic infrastucture and services such as electricity and water? This article does not answer that question but being that government is in charge of the nation's education system the onus lies on the shoulders of the government.
Meanwhile, Angara narrated that during a site visit to Datu Saldong Elementary School, a remote campus that previously lacked electricity in Agusan del Norte, absences among its 46 students became a problem “because children were distracted.”
He said when the electricity was installed in their classrooms, the students no longer wanted to leave, even to go home.
“It just shows that if we can engage our students, we can really do a lot for our people,” Angara said.
That's DepEd Secretary Angara's takeaway? That if student can be engaged "we can really do a lot for our people?" He obviously does not comprehend the situation. If there is no electricity in the school then there is likely not electricity at home. This children are acting like they have never seen a lightbulb before. Thier reaction shows how deep the need of electrification runs. Along with electrification comes running water. Electricity runs the pumps and the filters.
The DepEd likewise revealed that around 1,800 students in Naic, Cavite, attend classes in makeshift structures due to overcrowding and a shortage of spaces inside the classrooms.
On the other hand, it noted that students in Eastern Visayas and other regions do not have licensed guidance counselors, which makes it hard for schools to address cases of bullying and mental health problems.
As for the provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, and Pangasinan, flooding remains a recurring disaster in low-lying schools, which prevents classes and damages learning materials.
“To ease classroom congestion, DepEd is working with the private sector to build more than 15,000 new classrooms by 2027,” the DepEd said.
“New school buildings are also being designed to withstand natural disasters, including multi-storey structures with open ground floors to prevent damage from flooding,” it added.
Meanwhile, Angara underscored that “mental health is now a central concern in education policy.”
Thus, he said the DepEd is forming Child Protection Committees and recruiting more School Counselor Associates and Division Counselors.
In the same statement, the DepEd reported that the department’s expanded School-Based Feeding Program has covered more kindergarten learners – from 360,000 in 2024 to 1.4 million this year.
It did not say how many more students have yet to be reached by the feeding program.
Cavite classrooms are overcrowded and in short supply which is a perennial problem throughout the nation. It's not hard to construct school buildings if the money is properly allotted, there's no red tape, and no one is siphoning from the funds. Other schools have flooding problems which is another perennial problem with the rainy and typhoon seasons regularly wrecking havoc. Compare that with Japan which has earthquake-proofed all their infrastructure. How hard can it be for engineers to mitigate the flooding problem? Not building in flood zones would also be of help. Again, the Philippines has had 79 years of independence yet the flooding problem persists. Are Filipino engineers really this inept?
The department also reported that a total of 884,790 teaching positions had been filled as of June 15.
The DepEd also cited the recent report of the Department of Budget and Management, where it has recently completed the approval of 20,000 teaching items that the Department of Education requested for 2025.
Over 20 million public school students returned to classes in June for the school year 2025 to 2026.
“Education is not just about opening schools. It’s about making sure that every classroom is equipped, every teacher supported, and every child given a real chance to learn,” said Angara.
“That means confronting these issues head-on – flooding, congestion, mental health, access — and working with everyone to solve them,” he concluded.
Angara concludes that "flooding, congestion, mental health, access" are the problems and they must work "with everyone to solve them." Great. But what is the plan. Do they have one? The government wants to transform the Philippines into an upper-middle income country but they aren't going to do that with the education system in shambles. But then again having dumb peons who can be exploited to do grunt work is certainly a class the elite needs.
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