ACT hits DepEd’s ‘4+1’ proposal

March 13, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The proposed “4+1” blended learning of the Department of Education (DepEd) will not resolve the country’s classroom shortage and may shift the burden onto students, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said yesterday.

ACT chairperson Ruby Bernardo said the plan to implement four days of on-site classes and one day of online learning effectively adjusts schooling around the shortage of classrooms rather than addressing the root of the problem.

She added that if the government is truly serious about improving the quality of education and ensure student access, it must match the growing shortages with adequate funding.

At the same time, Bernardo raised concern over DepEd’s parallel push to expand vouchers to primary education, lease or acquire private properties for classrooms and pursue additional school infrastructure projects through public-private partnerships.

“These measures follow the same policy direction we have seen for decades: treating privatization as the solution to congestion in public schools instead of building sufficient publicly owned classrooms,” Bernardo said.

She also criticized the National Education Plan for targeting to address only 18 to 30 percent of the current backlog and projected deficit in classrooms over the next 10 years, despite projections that the deficit could grow from the current 165,000 classrooms to nearly 240,000 by 2035.

“The government clearly shows that it lacks the political will to significantly address the chronic classroom shortage, contradicting its own claim that ensuring students become functionally literate is a ‘key priority,’” Bernardo said.

Bernardo reiterated that addressing the classroom crisis requires a large-scale, nationally coordinated program to construct durable and disaster-resilient classrooms, rehabilitate aging school buildings and hire sufficient numbers of teachers.

On the other hand, DepEd Undersecretary for human resource and organizational development Wilfredo Cabral told dzMM yesterday that consultations are still ongoing for the planned pilot implementation of the “4+1” blended learning model.

“For now, the study is ongoing because we need more consultations with principals, parents, teachers and school staff. From a policy perspective, it needs to be anchored on the different realities of each school so they can choose what they believe is most effective for them,” Cabral said.

Meanwhile, DepEd also denounced the fake news circulating on social media about the alleged suspension of classes every Thursday and Friday.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara has said that classes in public schools are not covered by the four-day workweek arrangement announced by President Marcos.

P19.5 billion for textbooks

Angara yesterday said that at least P19.5 billion was allocated for textbook procurement this year to ensure a 1:1 textbook-to-learner ratio.

He added that the National Book Development Board also received P206.571 million for its budget this year to support authors and publishers and literacy-enhancement programs for the youth.

“While we are moving forward toward digital transformation, we remain invested in what continues to matter – encouraging our learners to strengthen their literacy through books,” Angara said as he formally opened the Philippine Book Festival 2026 yesterday.

He said DepEd has fast-tracked the delivery of textbooks to public schools through Early Procurement Activities, resulting in a massive 289 percent increase in approved textbook titles over the past year.