EDITORIAL
Filipino Learners Deserve More Than a Symbolic Return to School
As the school bells rang across the Philippines on June 16, 2025, the country witnessed a smooth and spirited opening of classes—its first full year return to the traditional June-to-March academic calendar. With over 27 million students back in classrooms and the Department of Education (DepEd) reporting minimal disruption, the occasion was a milestone—proof that Filipino resilience, from classrooms to communities, remains unshaken.
But beneath the celebratory headlines lies a sobering reality: our public education system continues to buckle under the weight of its own deficits. Despite Brigada Eskwela cleanups, security deployments, and updated enrollment protocols, schools across the archipelago opened their doors, facing familiar, unresolved challenges.
The most glaring of these is the chronic classroom shortage. With a national deficit of 165,000 classrooms, countless schools are forced into double or triple shifts, robbing learners of quality instruction time and overextending educators. In Central Visayas, classroom congestion remains a daily struggle, and in Bohol, some schools have had to implement makeshift arrangements due to overcrowding or insufficient infrastructure. These conditions, while resourceful, reflect a chronic underinvestment in the learning environment.
At the heart of these shortcomings is the DepEd’s budgetary plight. While the education budget constitutes one of the largest slices of the national pie, it is still insufficient to solve foundational problems. Proposals to double the education budget have gained traction, yet billions continue to flow to other sectors while basic education languishes. The administration’s modest digital interventions—laptops and smart TVs—are steps in the right direction, but they cannot compensate for physical and human resource gaps.
Perhaps the most urgent crisis lies in what our students are (or aren’t) learning. The 2024 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) paints a distressing picture: only 70.8% of Filipinos aged 10–64 are functionally literate. That means nearly 19 million struggle with reading comprehension, writing, or applying basic math in daily life. In Central Visayas, functional literacy dips slightly lower to 67.6%. The outlier is Bohol, with a functional literacy rate of 79.2%, the highest in the region and 7th best nationwide. While Boholanos can take pride in this achievement, the fact remains: even in our best-performing provinces, 1 in 5 residents is still functionally illiterate.
Teachers’ groups have long been sounding the alarm, and this year is no exception. From paltry pay increases to the lack of non-teaching staff and the ever-growing administrative workload, educators are stretched thin. Alarmingly, some DepEd personnel have reportedly discouraged teachers from speaking out—an affront to both transparency and meaningful reform.
The Philippine government cannot afford to treat these warning signs as business as usual. Around the world, countries that failed to invest in foundational learning have suffered dire consequences: stagnant economic growth, increased youth unemployment, and deepening inequality. In nations like South Africa and Indonesia, where education reforms were delayed or inadequately funded, entire generations face hurdles in job-readiness and civic participation. We should take heed.
Let this school year be remembered not just as a successful re-opening—but as a turning point. Because our learners deserve more than school gates that open on time; they deserve schools that open doors to opportunity.