IF MALACANANG has described Vice President Sara Duterte’s tenure as chief of the Department of Education (DepEd) from June 22 to June 2024 as “a complete failure,” is it a reasonable conclusion based on facts?
For context, the Palace reaction came after the Vice President said during a program in Kuwait that while other countries have modernized their education systems, the Philippines has remained stuck in a paper-and-pencil stage.
She added that students abroad are already engaged in robotics and coding, while the Philippines continues to struggle to catch up.
But the Palace countered that VP Duterte had the opportunity to lead DepEd for two years and implement the very reforms she is now urging, and that whatever she is complaining about should have been accomplished during her time.
Duterte served as education secretary from June 2022 to June 2024. She claimed she resigned “out of genuine concern for our teachers and the Filipino youth,” without clarifying her statement.
If Philippine education is in such a sorry state at present, it is partly because of Duterte’s mismanagement of the vital government agency during her term.
In 2023, DepEd with Duterte at the helm completed only 192 out of 6,379 targeted new classrooms, or just few percent of the goal. Classroom rehabilitation also lagged, with only 208 of 7,550 projects completed. Thousands more did not even enter the procurement phase.
The DepEd Computerization Program recorded “zero percent” accomplishment in delivering thousands of laptops and e-learning tools in 2023. This included over 12,000 laptops for teachers and thousands of smart TVs and e-learning carts that were never distributed.
A congressional report revealed that DepEd’s disbursement rate for its textbook program was just 17 percent in 2024, and only 11 percent the year before.
Sara Duterte also prioritized spending millions in confidential funds for projects that had little to do with fulfilling basic educational needs like textbooks and feeding programs.
The teacher’s party-list group in Congress even labeled Duterte “the worst DepEd secretary ever,” citing her failure to deliver on basic educational services.
While Duterte did make efforts to engage with educators and students, conducted school visits and listened to teachers’ concerns firsthand, she acknowledged that many DepEd initiatives remained incomplete and urged her successor to prioritize curriculum reform.
Sara Duterte’s time as DepEd Secretary was marked by ambitious rhetoric but limited execution.
While she raised valid concerns about the state of Philippine education, her administration struggled to deliver tangible improvements in infrastructure, technology, and basic learning resources.
The wasted opportunities to reform the basic education system in the country during Duterte’s stewardship of DepEd for two years now compel her successor, Education Secretary Sonny Angara, to work double time and to turn failure into better educational opportunities for our youth.
