THE DEPARTMENT of Education on Tuesday recorded a significant 289 percent increase in its procurement of textbooks for public schools over the past year.

In a statement, DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara said the agency’s milestone is part of the immediate reforms aimed at ensuring quality education for learners in the Philippines.

“Hindi pwedeng kulang-kulang ang hawak ng mga guro at bata (The materials held by teachers and learners should not be incomplete),” Angara said.

“Kung gusto nating umangat ang kalidad ng pag-aaral, dapat kompleto, tama, at napapanahon ang materyales na dumarating sa mga paaralan (If we want to elevate the quality of learning, there must be complete, right, and timely materials coming in to schools).”

To date, the DepEd has passed and procured 105 titles, which is 289 percent higher than the total procurement output of 10 years combined.

From 2012 to 2023, the DepEd only procured 27 titles, with only Grades 5 and 6 levels receiving complete textbooks, according to the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2).

“Ayaw na nating maulit ang sitwasyon kung saan huli dumarating ang libro o kulang ang kagamitan. Nauuna ang paghahanda para mauna rin ang pagkatuto (We don’t want a repeat of the situation wherein the arrival of books was delayed or the materials were incomplete. Preparations should come first so that learning will also be ahead),” Angara said.

To sustain the momentum, the DepEd will continue to implement Republic Act 1200, or the “New Government Procurement Act,” and DepEd Order 8, series of 2025, to conduct pre-selection and title evaluation before the actual bidding phase to prevent delays and ensure the timely delivery of learning materials.

Complementing this law is DepEd Order 8, s. 2025, which mandates the pre-selection and evaluation of titles before the bidding phase. This marks a major departure from the old process, where quality assurance occurred during post-qualification – a practice that previously contributed to multiple procurement failures.

The DepEd is expected to sustain the acceleration of textbook and material procurement with the higher budget support from the Senate and the House of Representatives next year.

For 2026, the DepEd secured PHP29.16 billion fund allocation for 103.9 million learning resources, which is higher than this year’s 97 million materials.

The DepEd is set to conduct quality assurance of at least 176 textbooks and teachers’ manual titles, 360 potential learning resource exemplars, 2,000 self-learning resource titles, and alongside 1,000 additional titles needed to complete curriculum rollout across grade levels.

The agency procured educational toys for learners in kindergarten to enhance “play-based” education. (PNA)