Education gets P1.35-T budget, highest ever

Following the signing of the 2026 budget yesterday, Education Secretary Sonny Angara thanked President Marcos for allocating a record P1.35 trillion to the education sector, equivalent to 4.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

- By BELLA CARIASO

“For the first time in Philippine history, the nation has allocated more than four percent of its GDP to education, to ensure that quality education is delivered to every Filipino learner,” Angara said.

He said the unprecedented funding allows the Department of Education and its attached agencies to roll out their biggest set of learnerand teacher-focused programs in recent years, including classroom construction, school-based feeding, textbooks, learner subsidies, laptops, additional teaching and non-teaching positions and continuous training for educators.

Under DepEd’s five-point reform agenda, Angara said the department secured P85.3 billion in 2026 to address the longstanding 165,000-classroom backlog.

Of this amount, P65 billion will fund the construction of 24,964 new classrooms, while P7.7 billion is allotted for the repair and rehabilitation of existing school buildings.

DepEd also received P19.5 billion for the production of textbooks and other learning materials.