01/08/2026
๐๐ข๐๐จ๐ ๐ก | ๐๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐ต๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ด
On July 27, 2026, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. delivered his 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA), presenting an 86-minute report card on his administration's progress and upcoming legislative agenda. Beyond critiquing the usual public relations rhetoric, what stood out most in the speech to me was the underwhelming update on the education sector.
Addressing the education sector during his speech, Marcos announced initiatives such as expanded school-based feeding programs, student counseling, Expanded Career Progression Program, and 16,000 new classrooms. While these announcements are undeniably great news, it came across as just a part 1 of a full list of fulfilled promises.
What about the rushed and frankly messy revised curriculum? Teachers did indeed receive training albeit rushed also. They are forced to teachโno, they ARE teachingโwithout standardized instructional materials like textbooks or modules, both of which from the previous curriculum have been proven useless. Yes, teachers can adapt, but isn't relying on them to do so the opposite of your duty, DepEd? This also affects us students, especially when the revised curriculum changed the grading system extensively.
For educators and school staff, the SONA reiterated the commitment to rid non-teaching administrative duties from teachers so they can focus on actually teaching classes. On paper, DepEd Order No. 002 was supposed to free teachers from that burden. But talk to almost any teacher on campus today, they'd say it's simply not true. This was not addressed.
Funding for classroom necessities are still being carried both by parents and advisors alike, with the effects of the budget allotment genuinely not being felt. This was not addressed.
Unaddressed also are the massive learning gaps students have. Most are in grade levels that expect much more than what they have actually learned. Instead of reporting progress on programs such as ARAL helping remediate that, Marcos focused on indirect support systems aimed at keeping kids in school and facilitating learning.
To address student welfare, Marcos said the government would deploy the first 10,000 School Counsellor Associates in public schools as he noted recent incidents of violence in schools involving students. This succeeds in only one of the two places of student welfare. What about physical ailments? School clinics are untouched the way they are: neglected and insufficient. They are decent enough to help with minor physical concerns, but there are no registered nurses and visiting doctors for most schools. This is an especially worrying thought whenever there is someone seriously injured in a natural disaster.
To add to that worry, you must now still keep learning inside potentially sub-standard classrooms prone to collapse even without any natural disaster hitting. Marcos announced that DepEd is partnering with private companies to build over 16,000 new classrooms in Luzon to mitigate student overcrowding. Still, what about the already built classrooms/buildings that need repairing? Many classrooms are vulnerable to typhoons and earthquakesโbuilt with non-disaster-proof materials. Again, this was not addressed.
Although that partnership project includes safeguards and countermeasures against exploitation and corruption, there will never be a perfect solution as we've seen from history. So now, there's potentially 16,000 new sub-standard classrooms to be built and if you are unlucky enough to be gravely injured, the school clinic can only give you some Katinko to help.
Once again, the SONA fell short of its promises to schools, the teachers, and students. The contrast is clear between politicians sitting on plush leather plenary seats "sharing" the cherry-picked stories of students and the unheard students themselves sitting on broken plywood chairs with missing armrests.
Column by: Eirik Jiro Ty
