The Philippine education system is in a state of crisis, burdened by insufficient budget allocations, outdated curricula, and a growing disconnect between what is taught in schools and the realities of the world beyond the classroom. 

Despite education being heralded as a priority, public schools all over the country continue to be underfunded. This leads to overcrowded classrooms, a lack of essential learning materials, and teachers’ wages that fail to reflect the vital role educators play in shaping the future.

The determination to address these issues is what fuels a national organization of public and private school teachers and their campaign to call attention to the sorry state of education and the plight of teachers.

A noble profession

On October 5, the Alliance of Concerns Teachers (ACT) marked World Teachers Day by holding simultaneous symposia, fora, cultural events, and protests all over the country. The group said that in the last two years of his administration, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has done very little to assist the over one million education workers in the public and private sectors, particularly in addressing the pressing issues of teachers’ wages and the deteriorating state of the Philippines education system.

“Whenever they do public relations work about teachers, politicians and government officials say that our profession is very noble.  Beyond the sweet words, there’s nothing else. Teachers are forced to bear the crippling weight of the education crisis while the government practically abandons its duty to ensure that Filipinos have access to quality education,” said Vladimer Quetua, the group’s chairperson.

Based on ACT’s data, there are at least 800,000 public school teachers and 300,000 private school teachers in the country, while there are around 60,000 state colleges and university instructors and technical-vocational trainers.

“These very small numbers mean that there are not enough teachers, and because of this, most of us are overworked,” Quetua said.

As an example, Quetua said public school teachers take on more than their expected teaching and ancillary tasks.

“The typical teacher has teaching, class management tasks and co-curricular and academic activities. These are already a lot of work, but we still have to take on clerical work and support work for government projects and activities like is the case during elections when we’re appointed to manage the voting process at the precincts.  There is always a shortage of education support personnel on ordinary days, so in many schools, teachers also have to function as librarian, janitor, custodian, registrar and even security guard,” he said.

“Like we keep telling the national government, we need more than 100,000 additional teachers, at least 90,000 education support personnel, and construct and repair at least 280,000 classrooms in order to reduce the class size to 35 students per teacher.”

Queta said that currently, public school teachers manage an average of 45 to 60 students per class, and many teachers have to take on additional shifts and overtime work without additional compensation.

Low pay 

The teachers’ alliance has also been calling on the government to double the allocations for education and to increase teachers’ salaries to “decent and livable” levels, emphasizing the need for reform within the Philippines education system. They are petitioning congress to legislate substantial salary hikes for teachers, saying that P50,000 (US$861) should be the entry-level pay for teachers, P33,000 (US$572) for Salary Grade 1 employees, Salary Grade 16 for instructors in state universities and colleges, and equal pay for private and public school teachers.

Despite the stringent requirements they have to meet to become licensed educators, Filipino teachers are among the most poorly compensated. Public school teachers have to work under the Salary Standardization Law V where entry level teachers receive only a minimum pay of P27,000 (US$468) per month.  

A staggering 93.3 percent of the total teaching personnel of the Department of Education (DepEd) received less than the P33,000 family living wage, and they cannot meet the P42,000 (US$729) monthly cost of living as determined by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

In the state-funded colleges and universities, entry level instructors receive a monthly salary of P36,000 (US$624). These amounts, while already dismaying, are actually higher compared to what teachers in private learning institutions receive.

Based on a survey conducted by ACT’s chapter in private schools, six out of every 10 private school teachers receive a monthly pay lower than the P27,000 entry-level salary of public school teachers, and the respondents said they have been teaching for more than 10 years.

Private high school teacher and ACT president for the National Capital Region (NCR) Ruby Bernardo said the hard truth is that teachers’ salaries are now much lower compared to those of their counterparts in the public sector. 

She said this became so when former president Rodrigo Duterte doubled the salaries of police and uniformed personnel in 2018.

The DepEd, however, has said increasing the salaries of private school teachers will cause many schools to close.

“This isn’t true. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, private schools did not close because teachers were asking for salary increases or because teachers were leaving. They closed because parents transferred their children to public schools.  Just like it failed to protect Filipino families, the government failed to shield private schools from the economic impacts of the pandemic,” Bernardo said.

“In any case, private school teacher – just like public school teachers – both need and deserve higher salaries,” she said.

Bernardo also argued that teachers need better non-salary benefits. 

“We’re not given overtime pay, overload pay, sick leave benefits. In lieu, we’re only allowed to monetize service credits, and get special hardship allowance. Teachers perform unpaid labor, and this is a direct violation of our basic labor rights.”

Advocates want better treatment of teachers by the government.

Budget cuts 

In the recent 2025 National Expenditure Program proposed by the Department of Budget and Management, state universities and colleges (SUCs) have been subjected to a budget cut of P14,481 billion (US$251 million) on their funding for maintenance, operations, and infrastructure. 

Two of the biggest state universities are facing massive reductions in their allocations:  the Mindanao State University had its budget reduced to PHP8,261 billion (US$143 million), followed by the University of the Philippines with PHP2.894 billion (US$50 million).

Out of 116 SUCs, 23 will suffer cuts to their operating budget, and 55 will suffer cuts to their capital outlay. According to the ACT, these decreased funds will drastically reduce the capacity of the educational institutions to maintain quality facilities, services, and infrastructure. 

Most of funds were taken away from allocations capital outlay, for facilities, equipment, and other investments that will serve these institutions for periods longer than the next fiscal year.  

The DepEd admitted in its March 2024 report that there is a serious shortage of classrooms in the country. At least 165,000 more classrooms are needed.

“What makes this report even more appalling is when you hear how the government bought 12 fighter jets worth P18.9 billion. That money alone could have been used to construct 7,560 classrooms,” said Bernardo.

Bernardo shared that the lack of classrooms also meant that many current classrooms need more repairs faster. 

“Truth be told, many teachers are forced to ask for donations for their own classrooms or spend their own money for repairs,” she said. “It breaks our hearts to see our students having to bear with cramped classrooms with bad ventilation and old chairs that are held together by wishes and prayers.”

According to the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA), the DepEd set the target of building 6,379 new classrooms in 2023, but was only able to finish 192. The repairs for 7,550 of classrooms, in the meantime, was also very far from completion as only 208 classrooms were renovated. More than 60 percent of all the repairs were left undone.

The COA also called out how the DepEd failed to deliver results on its computerization program which included the purchase of 12,022 laptops for teachers and 7,588 for employees, 2,648 smart televisions, and 2,349 e-learning carts. Currently, there is only one computer for every nine students in public schools, and 30 teachers have to share one computer.

The lack of funds could not be an excuse as DepEd received P11 billion for its 2023 budget, but was only able to use P2 billion.

Low ranking

The combination of rundown facilities and underpaid teachers are causing an inevitable, tragic impact: students ranking low in many assessment standards both local and international.

In the latest results of the 2023 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)’s newly launched benchmarking test for creativity, the Philippines is in the bottom four countries among a list of 81. 

The PISA is a student assessment implemented by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 15-year-old learners. The Philippines ranked 77th in math, science, and reading, scoring 120 points lower than the average.

In reaction to the results, a lawmaker is calling for “massive” reforms in the education system.

Assistant Minority Leader and Camarines Sur Representative Gabriel Bordado Jr said: “so much needs to be done. Our best learners are barely catching up with Singapore’s laggards.”

“The deficiencies cut across all sectors of society, affecting students regardless of social class, rural and urban residence, gender, language at home, or type of school attended,” he said. He added, however, that the educational system’s problems are not only due to lack of funding but other factors as well.

To explain the global dimension of the education crisis, Bordado cited the World Bank and UNESCO’s concept of “learning poverty” or the inability of a 10-year-old to read and understand simple text.  

“We have the highest learning poverty rate among recently surveyed Asian countries at 91 percent, compared to Singapore’s three percent and China’s 18 percent,” he said.

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All photos credit: Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)  

Top photo: Filipino students and teacher in a classroom.