Senator Loren Legarda has called for a sharper, systems-based reform of the Department of Education (DepEd), linking classroom realities with national development goals.

Legarda made the call during the Second Congressional Commission on Education’s (EDCOM II) sectoral review with DepEd officials, as she cited that “education is the system that enables every other reform to work.”

“It is the mind that guides every hand that builds. From health to livelihood, from industry to defense, every pillar of progress stands on the strength of an educated people,” said Legarda, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical, and Vocational Education.

Citing EDCOM II’s analysis, the senator noted that the education system continues to bear structural inefficiencies: a backlog of about 165,000 classrooms, only 30 percent of existing school buildings in good condition, and 32,916 teaching and 22,124 principal positions still needed nationwide, with 1,338 posts for school heads remaining vacant.

She noted that each School Division Office (SDO) staff supports an average of 1,237 learners and 33 schools, highlighting the overstretched local bureaucracy.

Nevertheless, she commended DepEd’s ongoing responses to these challenges, including the creation of 20,000 new teacher items and 10,000 Administrative Officer II positions, and its One School, One Principal target to professionalize school leadership.

The agency has also issued the first Medical Allowance Guidelines, raised the Teaching Support Subsidy for private school teachers from P18,000 to P24,000, and doubled the Teaching Supplies Allowance to P10,000 through the Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act.

Moreover, DepEd also reported it is building 328 Child Development Centers with local governments, developing Project Ligtas, a tool that maps school geohazards, and launching Project Talino for data-driven partner matching.

The agency also rolled out Project SIGLA to monitor nutrition outcomes and expand early childhood and feeding programs for learners.

Also during the hearing, Legarda also raised the full implementation of the National Environmental Awareness and Education Act of 2008, which she authored, and inquired into how culture and history are taught.

DepEd, however, affirmed that both environmental literacy and cultural identity are integrated across the curriculum.

Legarda also emphasized the need to sustain funding for the Alternative Learning System (ALS) and Indigenous Peoples Education (IPED) programs. For School Year 2023–2024, DepEd reported that only 46 percent of ALS learners completed the program.

“When education fails to reach the poor, the loss is not only in learning but in productivity, opportunity, and national growth,” she said.

“Our goal is to build an education system that expands capability, reduces inequality, and prepares every learner to participate fully in national life,” the veteran lawmaker stressed.