The Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday highlighted significant gains in procurement and delivery of services for teachers and learners.

In a statement, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said early procurement ensures efficient response to the sector’s needs.

“Kapag maayos at maagap ang procurement, mas maaga ring nakakarating sa mga paaralan ang mga kailangang (When there’s proper and early procurement, there’s also an earlier delivery in schools of their much needed) resources,” he said.

“Doon nasusukat kung epektibo ang serbisyo ng gobyerno at kung may tunay na balik ang pondo ng bayan (That’s how you measure the effectiveness of government services and if the money of the people is really paying off).”

The DepEd awarded 99.3 percent of planned procurement in 2025, charged against funds from 2024, which translated to utilized programs, goods, and services.

Under Angara’s helm, the DepEd awarded 91 contracts as early as January 2025 through the implementation of the Early Procurement Activities (EPA).

Learning resources were then immediately delivered from March to August last year.

Under the DepEd Computerization Program, 33,540 laptops for teaching personnel were delivered nationwide, alongside 5,302 laptops for non-teaching staff, and 30,440 smart televisions.

More than 1.37 million Science and Mathematics Equipment (SME) packages were also granted to public schools.

For the Last Mile Schools (LMS), the DepEd secured contracts to construct 47 classrooms that use a design-and-build approach to prevent recurring abandonment issues.

The DepEd, likewise, expedited the delivery of textbooks, reducing it to 180 days from the previous 245 to 451 days.

Shifting from developing manuscripts to the procurement of available titles helped the DepEd to complete the purchase of all planned textbook requirements from 2024 to 2025, with a 26 percent to 45 percent efficiency in terms of time savings.

For teachers’ career progression, about 1,000 professional teachers and graduating pre-service teachers were granted upskilling and reskilling opportunities.

For the five-year implementation of the Teacher Effectiveness and Competencies Enhancement Project (TEACEP), 16,600 tablets were distributed to benefit teachers and primary learners in Zamboanga Peninsula, Soccsksargen, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Other gains were also reported in the Disaster Response System for the Learning Continuity Package and Upgraded Learning Continuity Spaces (LCS), School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP), and the early childhood education, among others.

Almost 3.4 million beneficiaries were covered by the nutritionally fortified food or hot meals for 120 days, while 2.68 million beneficiaries benefited under the DepEd’s milk feeding for 15 days.

For early childhood education, about 228,740 sets of kindergarten educational toys were awarded, and 2,216,383 million kinder activity sheets for play-based learning. (PNA)