EDCOM II findings and the roadmap for Philippine education
Analyze EDCOM II reports on the Philippine education crisis. Review data on stunting, literacy, teacher quality, and legislative reforms through 2027.
The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) began its work in January 2023 with a mandate to evaluate the Philippine education system. After two years of assessment, the Commission has shifted its focus from identifying failures to implementing evidence-based solutions. The Commission published two major reports, 'Miseducation: The Failed System of Philippine Education' and 'Fixing the Foundations: A Matter of National Survival,' which serve as the basis for recent legislative actions and budget adjustments.
Data from these reports show that the system has struggled to function as a unified whole. Instead, the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) have often worked independently. This lack of coordination is a primary reason for the persistent learning crisis. To address this, EDCOM II pushed for an extension of its lifespan, which passed its third reading in the Senate and second reading in the House in December 2025, extending the Commission's term until December 2027.
Fixing the foundations of early childhood
One of the most urgent findings of EDCOM II involves the health and nutrition of children in their first 1,000 days. Statistics reveal that 26.7% of Filipino children under five years old are stunted. This condition causes irreversible damage to cognitive development, affecting a child's ability to learn in later years. The Commission found that stunting prevalence rises significantly as children age, from 12.8% among those aged 6-11 months to 30.2% for those aged 1-2 years.
Stunting prevalence by age group — Data showing the increase in stunting during the first 1,000 days
| Age | Percentage |
|---|
| 6-11 Months | 12.8 |
| 1-2 Years | 30.2 |
Investment in nutrition has been insufficient and uncoordinated. Until recently, the budget for hot meals provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) was only PhP 15 per child per day, increasing only to PhP 25 in 2025. Furthermore, the DSWD Supplemental Feeding Program (SFP) reaches only 43% of malnourished children aged 2 to 4 years. This gap exists because the program is facility-based, failing to reach children not enrolled in daycare centers.
🚨 Alert: Critical Nutrition Gap
Less than half of undernourished children aged 2 to 4 are covered by the
national feeding program, leaving approximately 213,000 children without
necessary interventions during their most critical years of brain development.
To resolve these issues, the ECCD System Act (RA 12199) was signed into law in May 2025. This law transfers the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Council to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to improve local monitoring. It also mandates the creation of permanent positions for Child Development Workers (CDWs) in every barangay. Currently, 5,800 barangays still lack Child Development Centers.
Addressing the basic education crisis
Foundational literacy and numeracy remain at alarmingly low levels. Results from the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) show that the number of functionally illiterate Filipinos has nearly doubled over three decades, rising from 14.5 million in the 1990s to 24.8 million in 2024. In basic education, a UNICEF study found that most Grade 3 students are one to two years behind curriculum expectations, with many possessing only Grade 1 level competencies.
Infrastructure backlogs further hinder learning. DepEd reports a shortage of 165,000 classrooms. In high-growth areas like Naic, Cavite, student-to-classroom ratios have reached as high as 1:256. EDCOM II found that uncoordinated housing projects by the National Housing Authority (NHA) often proceed without planning for school facilities. Since 2015, 58 housing projects totaling 167,120 units were built without clear coordination for schools, potentially requiring an additional 8,000 classrooms.
ℹ️ Info: Cost Disparity in Construction
Research shows a significant difference in classroom costs: DPWH projects cost
approximately PhP 3.5 million per unit, while local government units and
private partners build quality classrooms for as low as PhP 1.5 million.
Safety in schools is another area of concern. Data from PISA 2022 shows that 43% of girls and 53% of boys in the Philippines experience bullying multiple times a month. This is more than double the OECD average of 20%. In response, DepEd signed new Implementing Rules and Regulations for the Anti-Bullying Act in August 2025, introducing a tiered system for handling cases and stricter accountability for school personnel who fail to report incidents.
Teacher quality and career progression
EDCOM II identified a severe misalignment between teacher training and actual classroom needs. Approximately 62% of high school teachers are assigned to teach subjects that do not match their college majors. This issue is most severe in the sciences, where there is a 98% mismatch in physical sciences and an 80% mismatch in biological sciences.
Teacher-subject mismatch in secondary education — Percentage of teachers teaching subjects outside their college major
| Subject | Mismatch |
|---|
| Overall High School | 62 |
| Physical Sciences | 98 |
| Biological Sciences | 80 |
To address this, the House approved reforms to the Teacher Professionalization Law in November 2025. These reforms include:
- Expanding the Board for Professional Teachers from five to seven members.
- Requiring specialized licensure exams for Early Childhood and Special Needs Education.
- Mandating a refresher course for applicants who fail the licensure exam multiple times.
- Requiring a portfolio of professional standards as a prerequisite for the licensure exam.
Career progression has also been overhauled. In June 2025, a landmark bill was ratified to create two distinct tracks: the Teaching Career Line and the School Administration Career Line. These tracks ensure that teachers who choose to stay in the classroom can reach salary grades equivalent to administrative roles, removing the "natural vacancy" requirement that previously forced teachers to wait a decade or more for promotions.
Higher education and the skills gap
Higher education faces high attrition rates, with a 39% national dropout rate. Financial difficulty is the primary cause, cited by 44% of those who leave school. Although the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (RA 10931) provides free tuition, the share of the poorest students receiving the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) fell from 74% in 2018 to 31% in 2022.
Decline in TES share for poorest students — Percentage of TES beneficiaries from the poorest households (Listahanan 2.0/4Ps)
| Year | Share |
|---|
| 2018 | 74 |
| 2022 | 31 |
| 2023 | 23 |
| 2024 | 35 |
In the technical-vocational sector, there is a mismatch between training and job market demands. Only 4% of TVET graduates come from enterprise-based training (EBT), despite EBT graduates having a higher employment rate of 85.48%. Most graduates are concentrated in low-level National Certificate (NC) I and II programs, such as Food and Beverage Services, which often pay below minimum wage. EDCOM II has called for a shift toward high-skill programs (NC III and IV) to ensure graduates land more remunerative jobs.
✅ Success: EBET Framework Act
The Enterprise-Based Education and Training (EBET) Framework Act was signed in
November 2024 to bridge the skills gap. It offers companies tax deductions of
up to 75% for training expenses, incentivizing industry-led upskilling.
Governance and systemic reorganization
A central goal of EDCOM II is to end the "trifocalized" system where agencies work in silos. Secretary Sonny Angara reported that DepEd currently sits in 261 inter-agency bodies, which spreads the agency's resources too thin and takes focus away from teaching. To solve this, the Commission successfully advocated for the creation of a Cabinet Cluster for Education, approved in principle by the President in August 2024.
The 2026 education budget reached PhP 1.38 trillion, meeting the United Nations recommendation of 4% to 6% of GDP. This budget includes significant increases for infrastructure, textbooks, and the ARAL program. A new normative formula for school maintenance (MOOE) was also adopted, resulting in a 32% increase for 2025, with an 85% increase expected for 2026.
Significant reforms are also underway for CHED and TESDA. The proposed Higher Education Development and Innovation Act of 2025 seeks to move CHED from a regulatory to a development-oriented system, establishing a typology-based classification for institutions and granting autonomy to high-performing universities. For TESDA, a new Board of Advisers will replace the existing board to ensure programs align with national development goals.
Data from the Commission confirms that the Philippine education system is currently at a critical juncture. The move to extend EDCOM II until 2027 and the development of a 10-year National Education and Workforce Development Plan are intended to ensure that these reforms lead to sustained improvements. These initiatives represent a transition from short-term assessments to the long-term implementation of policies that prioritize foundational learning, teacher quality, and industrial alignment.