EDUCATION Secretary Sonny Angara said the Department of Education’s 2026 budget will allow a “historic” hiring of 65,100 teaching and non-teaching plantilla personnel.

He added that the budget will also enable the promotion of approximately 100,000 public school teachers.

Angara noted that limited career advancement has been a major reason many public school teachers leave the profession.

“Pero dito sa binigay na budget—kaya nga unprecedented din po in terms of promotions—kasi makakapag-promote tayo ng over 100,000 public school teachers with the budget given by Congress this year,” Angara said.

Under the Expanded Career Progression program, implemented under Angara’s leadership, DepEd has already promoted 16,025 teachers, with 41,183 more processed for the next batch of promotions.

“Ito iyong rason kung bakit umaalis ang ating mga teachers, dahil sa pakiramdam po nila hindi sila na-appreciate ng pamahalaan, hindi sila napo-promote nang husto—halos isang dekada hindi na-promote, hindi tumataas ang suweldo,” he explained.

Angara said the 30 percent increase in DepEd’s budget is the largest he has seen in his political career. He also thanked President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for the P1.015 trillion allocation for DepEd under the P6.793 trillion national budget for 2026.