THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) has implemented strict safeguards to prevent the unauthorized sale, pawning, or transfer of newly procured laptops issued to public school teachers and administrative personnel.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara clarified that the devices remain government property and are integrated into DepEd’s Mobile Device Management system, allowing authorities to remotely lock or disable stolen or illegally transferred laptops.

“Hindi po puwedeng ibenta ang mga ito dahil nananatili itong government property. Bawat paaralan ay may nakatalagang property custodian na nagbabantay sa imbentaryo at maayos na paggamit ng mga laptop,” Angara said.

The procurement initiative includes the distribution of 172,654 MacBook Neo units—with 169,008 designated for teachers and 3,646 for administrative staff—alongside 62,717 Windows-based laptops. Rollout is scheduled from November 2026 through March 2027.

DepEd warned that anyone involved in the unauthorized transfer, sale, or misuse of government-issued laptops will face administrative and criminal charges.

To ensure an equitable rollout, the agency is enforcing the Teacher Assignment for Laptop Allocation (TALA) guidelines,prioritizing educators and schools that have not previously received state-issued devices.

First priority will be given to unserved teachers leading classroom technology integration, followed by other unserved personnel, and finally, previous recipients whose assigned laptops were declared unserviceable, lost, or stolen.

“Malinaw at patas ang ating sistema. Uunahin natin ang mga paaralan at guro na hindi pa nakakatanggap ng laptop mula sa gobyerno, lalo na ang mga nangunguna sa pagtuturo gamit ang teknolohiya,” Angara added.