Law Summary
Principles Guiding Implementation
- Serve students and teachers as primary constituents
- School heads must exercise instructional leadership and sound administrative management
- Schools are the core of formal education
- Encourage active involvement of parents and the community through coordination with PTAs and local school boards
- Promote volunteerism for sustainable growth in education
Purposes and Objectives
- Provide governance framework for educational policies and standards
- Define roles/responsibilities and allocate resources to regions, divisions, schools
- Use schools as vehicles to teach national values and develop Filipino learners' pride
- Ensure focused attention and appropriate educational programs to schools and communities
- Allow schools flexibility to reflect community values
- Encourage local initiatives to improve schools' standards
- Establish schools and learning centers providing core competencies and alternative education programs for out-of-school youth and adults
Key Definitions
- Quality Education: Relevant, excellent education meeting individual and societal needs
- Basic Education: Education encompassing early childhood, elementary, secondary, alternative learning systems, and special needs education
- Early Childhood Education: Preparation of 5-6 year olds for formal schooling focusing on physical, social, moral, intellectual development
- Elementary Education: First stage of compulsory formal education, corresponding to 6-7 grades
- Secondary Education: Follow-up formal education typically 4 years after elementary
- Special Needs Education: Education tailored for gifted, disabled, or fast learners requiring modification
- Formal Education: Systematic, sequential schooling requiring certification
- Non-Formal Education: Organized educational activities outside formal schooling
- Informal Education: Lifelong learning from daily experiences
- Alternative Learning System (ALS): Parallel system providing non-formal and informal knowledge/skills
- Teacher: Includes full/part-time educators, supervisors, administrators qualified to teach or support education
- Learning Facilitator: Role within Alternative Learning System
- Learner: Anyone seeking basic literacy or life skills improvement
- Adult Learners: Learners 25 years or older with no or limited formal education
- Out-of-School Youth: School-age children unable or no longer attending formal education
- School Heads: Persons managing instructional and administrative functions
- Non-Teaching Personnel: Employees assisting in administrative and support roles
- Operating Officers: Key officials implementing and monitoring plans and projects
- School: Educational institution providing defined studies at defined levels
- Cluster of Schools: Group of geographically contiguous schools
- Integrated Schools: Schools providing complete basic education at one site
- Field Offices: Regional, division, school levels, and learning centers
- School Sports: Physical fitness and sports programs within school curriculum
Shared Governance
- Recognizes roles and accountability at each bureaucracy level
- Democratic consultation including student input when feasible
- Operating officers bear responsibility for operations
- Communication and coordination among national, regional, division, and school levels are essential
- Accountability and transparency must be maintained
- Strengthen links with LGUs, NGOs, and other agencies for governance
Powers and Responsibilities of the Secretary of Education
- Overall authority and supervision of DepEd
- Formulate national education policies, plans, and standards
- Monitor national learning outcomes and conduct research
- Improve welfare and working conditions of education personnel
- Implement programs for learners' holistic development
- Exercise disciplinary authority per civil service laws
- Supported by undersecretaries and assistant secretaries, including career executive service officers
Regional Director Authority
- Define regional education policies aligned with national direction
- Develop regional basic education plans and standards with international competitiveness
- Monitor and assess regional learning outcomes
- Manage regional resources and staffing, evaluation of division superintendents
- Approve establishment of schools and learning centers per national standards
- Oversee implementation of DepEd laws and policies in the region
- Authority for hiring and discipline of regional office staff (except assistant director)
Schools Division Superintendent
- Head of a provincial or city division
- Develop division education plans, manage resources, and personnel
- Hire, place, evaluate division and district supervisors, school heads (except assistant superintendent)
- Monitor funds from national and local governments
- Ensure compliance with quality and accreditation standards
- Supervisory responsibility over all public/private elementary, secondary, integrated schools, and learning centers
- Disciplinary authority limited to non-teaching personnel; teaching personnel discipline under Regional Director per Magna Carta for Teachers
Schools District Supervisor
- Staff role focused on instructional and curriculum supervision, no administrative supervision unless authorized
- Provide professional support to school heads and teachers
- Perform curriculum supervision and assigned functions
- School districts established as per existing law with conditions for new districts
School Head
- Responsible for public elementary, secondary schools or clusters; integrated schools encouraged
- Instructional leader and administrative manager supported by assistant head and non-teaching staff
- Set school mission, vision, goals, and create conducive learning environment
- Implement and assess curriculum; responsible for learning outcomes
- Develop school improvement plans and programs that ensure equity
- Manage personnel, facilities, fiscal resources; recommend staffing needs
- Encourage staff development
- Foster community networks, PTAs, and teacher organizations
- Accept donations for educational improvements, report to division superintendent
Organizational Support and Staffing
- Maintain existing organizational structure at all DepEd levels with periodic review
- Secretary to direct review, evaluation, and recommend modifications to organizational structure and staffing patterns
- Regional Directors to study delineation of roles among supervisors to optimize classification and salary grades
Equitable and Direct Release of Resources
- Secretary tasked to rationalize allocation of resources to field offices
- Develop direct and immediate release procedures for funds and resources at all field levels
- Reporting system for fund utilization to DepEd Central and DBM
- Task force to coordinate issuance of joint guidelines within 60 days
Personnel Policies for Teaching Service
- Review and adopt personnel policies tailored to teaching service needs
- In coordination with Civil Service Commission and relevant agencies
- Cover recruitment, selection, appointment, promotion, dismissal, retirement
Audit Rules and Support
- Secretary to seek COA support to issue audit rules allowing greater flexibility for field offices
- Audit rules to consider organizational setup, operation nature, field office characteristics
Recruitment, Selection, and Appointment
- Based on merit, competence, equality, fitness; non-discriminatory
- Use approved Merit Selection Plan
Selection and Promotion Boards
- Third level: Secretary to create board for high-level positions; appointees to be career executive officers
- First and second level: Boards at Central and Regional Offices following civil service law
- Division level boards for teaching/non-teaching staff promotions; policies to be reviewed regularly
- Promotion of school heads based on qualifications, merit, and performance (not school size)
Alternative Learning System (ALS)
- Secretary to issue guidelines for operationalizing ALS for elementary, secondary, and special needs education
Culture and Arts
- Certain cultural agencies administratively attached to National Commission for Culture and the Arts
- Arts and culture programs remain part of school curriculum
Abolition of Bureau of Physical Education and School Sports (BPESS)
- Personnel detailed at Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) transfer without rank loss
- Transfer of sports competition functions to PSC
- School sports and physical fitness programs remain under DepEd
- Retain other BPESS personnel in DepEd with possible position adjustments
Final Provisions
- Separability clause for legality of remaining provisions if a part is declared unconstitutional
- Repeal conflicting previous rules
- Immediate effectivity after required publication