Vision, Mission, Core Values, and Mandate

The DepEd Vision

We dream of Filipinos
who passionately love their country
and whose values and competencies
enable them to realize their full potential
and contribute meaningfully to building the nation.
As a learner-centered public institution,
the Department of Education
continuously improves itself
to better serve its stakeholders.

The DepEd Mission

To protect and promote the right of every Filipino to quality, equitable, culture-based, and
complete basic education where:
Students learn in a child-friendly, gender-sensitive, safe, and motivating environment.
Teachers facilitate learning and constantly nurture every learner.
Administrators and staf, as stewards of the institution, ensure an enabling and
supportive environment for effective learning to happen.
Family, community, and other stakeholders are actively engaged and share
responsibility for developing life-long learners.

Our Core Values

Maka-Diyos
Maka-tao
Makakalikasan
Makabansa

Our Mandate
The Department of Education was established through the Education Decree of 1863 as the
Superior Commission of Primary Instruction under a Chairman. The Education agency
underwent many reorganization efforts in the 20th century in order to better define its
purpose vis a vis the changing administrations and charters. The present day Department
of Education was eventually mandated through Republic Act 9155, otherwise known as the
Governance of Basic Education act of 2001 which establishes the mandate of this agency.
The Department of Education (DepEd) formulates, implements, and coordinates policies,
plans, programs and projects in the areas of formal and non-formal basic education. It
supervises all elementary and secondary education institutions, including alternative
learning systems, both public and private; and provides for the establishment and
maintenance of a complete, adequate, and integrated system of basic education relevant
to the goals of national development.

History
Historical Perspective of the Philippine Educational System
Education in the Philippines has undergone several stages of development from the preSpanish times to the present. In meeting the needs of the society, education serves as
focus of emphases/priorities of the leadership at certain periods/epochs in our national
struggle as a race.
As early as in pre-Magellanic times, education was informal, unstructured, and devoid of
methods. Children were provided more vocational training and less academics (3 Rs) by
their parents and in the houses of tribal tutors.
The pre-Spanish system of education underwent major changes during the Spanish
colonization. The tribal tutors were replaced by the Spanish Missionaries. Education was
religion-oriented. It was for the elite, especially in the early years of Spanish colonization.
Access to education by the Filipinos was later liberalized through the enactment of the
Educational Decree of 1863 which provided for the establishment of at least one primary
school for boys and girls in each town under the responsibility of the municipal
government; and the establishment of a normal school for male teachers under the

supervision of the Jesuits. Primary instruction was free and the teaching of Spanish was
compulsory. Education during that period was inadequate, suppressed, and controlled.
The defeat of Spain by American forces paved the way for Aguinaldo's Republic under a
Revolutionary Government. The schools maintained by Spain for more than three centuries
were closed for the time being but were reopened on August 29, 1898 by the Secretary of
Interior. The Burgos Institute in Malolos, the Military Academy of Malolos, and the Literary
University of the Philippines were established. A system of free and compulsory
elementary education was established by the Malolos Constitution.
An adequate secularized and free public school system during the first decade of American
rule was established upon the recommendation of the Schurman Commission. Free
primary instruction that trained the people for the duties of citizenship and avocation was
enforced by the Taft Commission per instructions of President McKinley. Chaplains and
non-commissioned officers were assigned to teach using English as the medium of
instruction.
A highly centralized public school system was installed in 1901 by the Philippine
Commission by virtue of Act No. 74. The implementation of this Act created a heavy
shortage of teachers so the Philippine Commission authorized the Secretary of Public
Instruction to bring to the Philippines 600 teachers from the U.S.A. They were the
Thomasites.

Official Name of Department

Official Titular
Head

Legal Bases

Superior Commission of Primary

Instruction

Chairman

Educational Decree of 1863

1-1916

Department of Public Instruction

General
Superintendent

Act. No. 74 of the Philippine Commission, Jan. 21

1901

6-1942

Department of Public Instruction

Secretary

Organic Act Law of 1916 (Jones Law)

2-1944

Department of Education, Health and

Public Welfare

Commissioner

Renamed by the Japanese Executive Commission

June 11, 1942

Department of Education, Health and

Public Welfare

Minister

Renamed by Japanese Sponsored Philippine

Republic

Department of Public Instruction

Secretary

Renamed by Japanese Sponsored Philippine

Republic

5-1946

Department of Public Instruction and

Secretary

Renamed by the Commonwealth Government

Official Name of Department

Official Titular
Head

Legal Bases

Information

6-1947

Department of Instruction

Secretary

Renamed by the Commonwealth Government

7-1975

Department of Education

Secretary

E.O. No. 94 October 1947 (Reorganization Act of

1947)

5-1978

Department of Education and Culture

Secretary

Proc. No. 1081, September 24, 1972

8-1984

Ministry of Education and Culture

Minister

P.D. No. 1397, June 2, 1978

4-1986

Ministry of Education, Culture and

Sports

Minister

Education Act of 1982

7-1994

Department of Education, Culture and

Sports

Secretary

E.O. No. 117. January 30, 1987

4-2001

Department of Education, Culture and

Sports

Secretary

RA 7722 and RA 7796, 1994 Trifocalization of

Education Management

Secretary

RA 9155, August 2001 (Governance of Basic

Education Act)

1 - present Department of Education

The high school system supported by provincial governments, special educational

institutions, school of arts and trades, an agricultural school, and commerce and marine
institutes were established in 1902 by the Philippine Commission. In 1908, the Philippine
Legislature approved Act No. 1870 which created the University of the Philippines.
The Reorganization Act of 1916 provided the Filipinization of all department secretaries
except the Secretary of Public Instruction.
Japanese educational policies were embodied in Military Order No. 2 in 1942. The
Philippine Executive Commission established the Commission of Education, Health and
Public Welfare and schools were reopened in June 1942. On October 14, 1943, the Japanese
- sponsored Republic created the Ministry of Education. Under the Japanese regime, the
teaching of Tagalog, Philippine History, and Character Education was reserved for Filipinos.
Love for work and dignity of labor was emphasized. On February 27, 1945, the Department
of Instruction was made part of the Department of Public Instruction.
In 1947, by virtue of Executive Order No. 94, the Department of Instruction was changed to
Department of Education. During this period, the regulation and supervision of public and
private schools belonged to the Bureau of Public and Private Schools.

In 1972, it became the Department of Education and Culture by virtue of Proclamation

1081 and the Ministry of Education and Culture in 1978 y virtue of P.D. No. 1397. Thirteen
regional offices were created and major organizational changes were implemented in the
educational system.
The Education Act of 1982 created the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports which later
became the Department of Education, Culture and Sports in 1987 by virtue of Executive
Order No. 117. The structure of DECS as embodied in EO No. 117 has practically remained
unchanged until 1994 when the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and 1995 when
the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) were established to
supervise tertiary degree programs and non-degree technical-vocational programs,
respectively.
The Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) report provided the impetus for
Congress to pass RA 7722 and RA 7796 in 1994 creating the Commission on Higher
Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA),
respectively.
The trifocal education system refocused DECS mandate to basic education which covers
elementary, secondary and nonformal education, including culture and sports. TESDA now
administers the post-secondary, middle-level manpower training and development while
CHED is responsible for higher education.
In August 2001, Republic Act 9155, otherwise called the Governance of Basic Education Act,
was passed transforming the name of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports
(DECS) to the Department of Education (DepEd) and redefining the role of field offices
(regional offices, division offices, district offices and schools). RA 9155 provides the overall
framework for (i) school head empowerment by strengthening their leadership roles and
(ii) school-based management within the context of transparency and local accountability.
The goal of basic education is to provide the school age population and young adults with
skills, knowledge, and values to become caring, self-reliant, productive and patriotic
citizens.

DepEd Management Structure

To carry out its mandates and objectives, the Department is organized into two major
structural components. The Central Office maintains the overall administration of basic
education at the national level. The Field Offices are responsible for the regional and local

coordination and administration of the Departments mandate. RA 9155 provides that the
Department should have no more than four (4) Undersecretaries and four (4) Assistant
Secretaries with at least one Undersecretary and one Assistant Secretary who are career
service officers chosen among the staff of the Department.
In 2015, the Department underwent a restructuring of its office functions and staffing. The
result of which was the Rationalization Plan for the new organizational structure. Details of
the new structure are further explained in DepEd Order No. 52, s. 2015, also known as
the New Organizational Structures of the Central, Regional, and Schools Division Offices of the
Department of Education.
At present, the Department operates with four (4) Undersecretaries in the following areas:

Curriculum and Instruction

Finance and Administration

Governance and Operations

Legal and Legislative Affairs

Four (4) Assistant Secretaries are assigned in the following areas:

Curriculum and Instruction

Finance and Administration

Governance and Operations

Legal and Legislative Affairs

Supporting the Office of the Secretary (OSEC) at the Central Office are the different strands,
services, bureaus, and divisions.
There are five (5) strands under OSEC:

Curriculum and Instruction

Finance and Administration

Governance and Operations

Legal and Legislative Affairs

Strategic Management
Five (5) attached agencies:

Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Council

National Book Development Board (NBDB)

National Council for Children's Television (NCCT)

National Museum

Philippine High School for the Arts

Three (3) coordinating councils:

Adopt-a-School Program (ASP) Coordinating Council

Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC)

Teacher Education Council (TEC)

At the sub-national level, the Field Offices consist of the following:

Seventeen (17) Regional Offices, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM*), each headed by a Regional Director (a Regional Secretary in the case of ARMM).

Two hundred twenty-one (221) Provincial and City Schools Divisions, each headed by
a Schools Division Superintendent. Assisting the Schools Division Offices are 2,602 School
Districts, each headed by a District Supervisor.
Under the supervision of the Schools Division Offices are 62,605 schools, broken down as
follows:

49,209 elementary schools (38,648 public and 10,561 private)

13,396 secondary schools (7,976 public and 5,420 private)

*ARMM is included in the budget of the Department on the following:

Creation of teaching and non-teaching positions;
Funding for newly-legislated high schools;
Regular School Building Program; and
Certain foreign-assisted and locally-funded programs and projects.

entral Office Organizational Structure

Overview of the organizational structure of the Department's Central Office. A more
detailed chart can be viewed at DepEd Order No. 5, s. 2015.

K to 12 General Information
The K to 12 Program covers 13 years of basic education with the following key stages:

Kindergarten to Grade 3

Grades 4 to 6

Grades 7 to 10 (Junior High School)

Grades 11 and 12 (Senior High School)

Why are we now implementing 12 years of basic education?

The Philippines is the last country in Asia and one of only three countries worldwide
with a 10-year pre-university cycle (Angola and Djibouti are the other two).

A 12-year program is found to be the best period for learning under basic
education. It is also the recognized standard for students and professionals globally.

What has been done to get ready for K to 12? Are we really ready for K to 12?

SY 2011-2012: Universal Kindergarten implementation begins

SY 2012-2013: Enhanced curriculum for Grades 1-7 implemented

2013: K to 12 enacted into Law

2014: Curriculum for Grades 11-12 finished

This 2015, we are getting ready for the implementation of Senior High School (SHS) in SY
2016-2017.

We are on the fifth year of the implementation of the K to 12 Program. Our last mile
is the Senior High School. All 221 divisions of the Department of Education (DepEd) have

finished planning and have figures on enrolment a year in advance. These plans were
reviewed by a separate team and finalized upon consultation with other stakeholders.

Classrooms: DepEd has built 66,813 classrooms from 2010 to 2013. There
are 33,608 classrooms completed and undergoing construction in 2014. As of DepEd is
planning to establish 5,899 Senior High Schools nationwide. As of April 30, 2015, DepEd has
issued provisional permits to 1,866 private schools set to offer Senior High School in 2016.

Teachers: From 2010-2014, DepEd has filled 128,105 new teacher items.
DepEd is targeting two kinds of teachers: those who will teach the core subjects, and those
who will teach the specialized subjects per track. DepEd will hire 37,000 teachers for Senior
High School for 2016 alone.

Textbooks: Learning materials are being produced for elementary to junior

high while textbooks for Senior High School (which has specialized subjects) are being bid
out.

Curriculum: The K to 12 curriculum is standards- and competence-based. It

is inclusive and built around the needs of the learners and the community. The curriculum
is done and is available on the DepEd website. It is the first time in history that the entire
curriculum is digitized and made accessible to the public.

Private SHS: There are 2,199 private schools cleared to offer Senior High School
and over 200 more being processed.

How will K to 12 afect the college curriculum?

The College General Education curriculum will have fewer units. Subjects that have
been taken up in Basic Education will be removed from the College General Education
curriculum.

Details of the new GE Curriculum may be found in CHED Memorandum Order No.
20, series of 2013.

Ive been hearing that a lot of people have not been consulted regarding K to 12. Is
this true?

DepEd has always been transparent in the planning and implementation of K to 12.
There have been regular consultations with various sectors since 2010, before the law was
passed, during the crafting of the IRR, and during implementations. DepEd representatives
have also attended various fora and conferences, including legislative inquiries, regarding K
to12. We are open to criticisms and suggestions regarding this.

How can I help improve basic education?

Private partners can donate through the Adopt-A-School program. A 150% tax
incentive will be provided for every contribution.
Help spread awareness and information on the K to 12 Program.