More textbooks, teachers' career growth: Marcos vows fixes to perennial education woes

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed in his third State of the Nation Address to shorten the textbook procurement and delivery process in basic education from three years to one year — a problem that a congressional body on education reform said has persisted for at least three decades.

In one of his most ambitious pledges for basic education yet, Marcos also vowed to fully implement the expanded career progression system for public school teachers to ensure that “no public school teacher from now on will retire as ‘Teacher 1,’” referring to the lowest rank a public school teacher can have.

“The problem surrounding textbooks shall be resolved, the production of instructional materials, especially textbooks which are up to date and error-free must be ensured,” Marcos said before an audience of some 2,000 guests during his SONA on Monday.

“The whole process from approval of manuscript to procurement, all the way to distribution will be cut short from its present three years to just one year,” the president added.

According to the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), a three-year congressional body tasked with studying the Philippine education crisis, delays in the procurement and distribution of textbooks have been a long-standing concern in the basic education sector. 

The report of the first EDCOM, which came out in 1991, “already noted the inadequacy of textbooks in basic education” due to the “complexity of the textbook development process, which, at that time, took three years per textbook on average.”

Consultations held by EDCOM 2 found that while government rules require the procurement process for textbooks in public schools to be done in just six months. 

National Book Development Board OIC Division Chief Kevin Ansel Dy told EDCOM II officials during a hearing in June that manuscript revision takes the longest portion of the process due to conflicting comments and lack of personnel. 

As a result, DepEd has only been able to procure and deliver 27 textbook titles in a span of 11 years, with only students in Grades 5 and 6 getting complete textbooks in all subjects, based on data compiled and analyzed by EDCOM 2. 

Career progression for teachers

Marcos also said the government has allocated enough funds to implement the expanded career progression system for public school teachers — a system of promotion that has been unevenly implemented in schools due to the limited availability of plantilla positions within schools and school division offices.

EDCOM 2 said in its Year One report that teachers are sometimes forced to leave the profession altogether due to the lack of available higher positions.

“While interventions on current policy are being initiated by EDCOM II, the ultimate goal remains to pass a law that provides the framework for the career progression of teachers in public schools,” EDCOM 2 said.