THE Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) has formally turned over its Final Report, Turning Point: A Decade of Necessary Reform to President Bongbong Marcos, outlining a ten-year strategic roadmap to stem the country’s education crisis. The Commission’s National Education and Workforce Development Plan (NatPlan) establishes aggressive and concrete targets to be achieved by 2035, headlined by a commitment to raise student proficiency rates to 90% and to increase education spending to 5.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The NatPlan addresses a systemic “proficiency collapse” revealed by national data, where currently only 0.40% of Grade 12 students are deemed proficient in the National Achievement Test (NAT).
To address this, the Commission targets to increase the percentage of proficient learners in the Grade 12 NAT from the current 0.40% to 90%. In Grade 3, reading proficiency (measured through DepEd’s Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment) is targeted to increase from the current baseline of 47.74% at the end of School Year 2024-2025 to at least 95% by 20235. Likewise, numeracy skills (measured by DepEd through their Rapid Math Assessment) are also aimed to increase from 40.49% to 85%. Overall, the Commission is advocating to increase the percentage of Grade 3 learners achieving at least “Proficient” status in the Early Language, Literacy, and Numeracy Assessment (ELLNA) from 30.52% to 90% by 2035.
The Commission emphasizes that achieving these targets requires ending the culture of “mass promotion” through a package of interventions. These include: (1) The full implementation of the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program, (2) the phaseout of grade transmutation policies, and (3) the revision of DepEd’s Office Performance Commitment and Review (OPCR) targets which currently include targets of zero dropouts, unintendedly leading to mass promotion.
“Ending “mass promotion” must not be simplistically interpreted as retaining students. It means vigilantly monitoring struggling students, improving how lessons are delivered day-to-day, and providing robust remediation and learner support,” said Executive Director Karol Mark Yee. “However it also means holding accountability and responsibility: that if students had missed too many classes, not submitted requirements despite many reminders, or refused to participate in remediation programs, that they are not automatically promoted, because of some practices wherein teachers are penalized when they give failing marks.”
Acknowledging that chronic underinvestment has constrained the education system for decades, the NatPlan mandates a progressive increase in education financing. While the proposed 2026 budget has reached a historic 4.5% of GDP, the plan targets a sustained increase to 5.0% by 2031 and 5.5% by 2035 to meet global standards.
Key financial targets include:
- Incremental Investment: A projected total incremental investment of Php 2.66 trillion over the next ten years (2026–2035) to fund necessary reforms.
- Closing the Gap: Addressing an annual investment gap that is projected to reach approximately Php 623.1 billion by 2035 if reforms are not sustained.
- Foundational Focus: Rebalancing allocations toward early childhood and primary education, where per-capita funding remains lowest but economic returns are highest.
The NatPlan serves as the blueprint for the next decade, moving the country from diagnosis to execution. The Commission asserts that this “turning point is not self-executing” and demands “institutional discipline” to prioritize functional literacy and nutrition over non-essential activities.
“The learning crisis we now confront is not an inevitable fate,” the Report states. “It requires a decade of unwavering commitment… so the education system once again becomes a credible engine of opportunity for every Filipino child”.
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