VICE President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte on Thursday conveyed the commitment of the Department of Education in achieving the MATATAG Agenda during her second Basic Education Report.

In her report, Duterte highlighted major accomplishments a year after the launch of the agency’s MATATAG Agenda, including the pilot implementation of the MATATAG Curriculum, the rollout of the National Learning Camp and Catch-Up Fridays, the expansion of School-Based Feeding Program, and the strengthening of learner protection mechanisms, among others.

“As we stand here today, we reaffirm our commitment to this colossal endeavor – unfazed by the unthinkable. We will bravely take on this challenge of sustaining our actions in our MATATAG Agenda,” Duterte said.

Most notably, Duterte declared that DepEd will release the policy on the removal of administrative tasks of teachers on Friday, 26 January.

“Let’s bring our teachers back to the classrooms,” she emphasized.

Furthermore, Duterte said that the Department will also issue an Employee Welfare and Well-being Policy guidelines soon, while establishing a Calamity Fund for teachers and personnel is in the pipeline.

In terms of improving learning outcomes, she shared that DepEd will conduct the phased implementation of the MATATAG Curriculum next school year. A National Math Program and National Science & Technology Program will also be implemented by the agency.

In addition, the Education Secretary highlighted the agency’s aim to fully digitize all DepEd offices and schools nationwide through the DepEd Digi-Ed 2028. Further, she also assured that DepEd will provide school-wide Wi-Fi, electronic textbooks and digitized large-scale evaluation and assessment tools on the development of the learners.

DepEd will likewise aim to launch the MATATAG Portal, a one-stop-shop platform for teachers, learners, and partners to access learning materials and education information.

“Mga kababayan, hindi po tayo hihinto sa kabila ng iba’t ibang anyo ng pagsubok, dahil mas mahalaga po na makita natin ang maraming mukha ng tagumpay at mga natupad na pangarap ng ating kabataan dahil sa ating pagtutulungan, dahil sa ating pagiging MATATAG,” Duterte noted.