- 20,000 New Teaching Posts: The Philippine government will open 20,000 teaching positions in 2025 to improve public education, especially in underserved areas.
- Child Development Centers: President Marcos has approved the nationwide rollout of child development centers, with dedicated funding from the 2025 education budget.
- Infrastructure Boost: The initiative includes plans for constructing more schools and classrooms, aligned with broader reforms to address teacher shortages and modernize the education system.
In a major action to further strengthen the nation's education system, the Philippine government laid out plans to open 20,000 teaching posts in 2025. The move, announced by the Presidential Palace forms part of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s overall mandate to enhance the quality and access of public education in the nation. The action was a two-phase implementation, the first part of which were 16,000 posts announced earlier this year, Presidential Communications Office Assistant Secretary Clarissa A. Castro said. The new 4,000 posts announced now add up to a total of 20,000 new teaching positions. These will be progressively filled in preparation for the 2025–2026 school year, which starts on June 16, 2025, and ends on March 31, 2026. The president's order to improve the education system is consistent with this action, Castro explained in Filipino during a Malacañang Palace press briefing. She stressed that the addition of teaching staff is part of a comprehensive package of reforms aimed at filling long-standing gaps in public education, especially in far-flung and depressed areas. Apart from recruiting new teachers, the Marcos government is also advocating for the setup of child development centers nationwide. The idea was raised by President Marcos' recently appointed education secretary, Juan Edgardo M. Angara, and has now received full support from the president. The President has already ordered the Department of Budget and Management to release funds for the rollout of these centers, Castro added. The same amount of P4.19 billion has been provided for these educational programs under the built-in appropriation of the Department of Education's (DepEd) in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). Although the initial appropriations will fund the new hiring of teachers and the opening of child development centers, Palace officials also hinted at subsequent infrastructure enhancements in public schools.
"Next year will be full-out, and we will get more schools built under this funding, but we also hope to get more classrooms constructed for opening next school year", Castro explained.
The increased recruitment and infrastructure campaign coincide with renewed calls from lawmakers and educators for systemic reforms to fix teacher shortages, enhance learning outcomes, and modernize school buildings nationwide.
