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LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte, 24 January 2026 — Public school learners struggling with reading gaps, senior high school graduates navigating post-secondary options, and teachers seeking clearer career pathways stand to benefit immediately from new coordination mechanisms established this week by the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Meeting for the second time under the Joint Education Trifocal Management Committee (JETMC) on January 22–23, the three institutions moved to institutionalize their collaboration by creating Permanent Working Groups (PWGs) tasked to act on long-standing coordination bottlenecks that have slowed reforms that required the bridging of policies and programs across basic, higher, and technical-vocational education.
The PWGs are intended to reduce policy confusion and implementation delays caused by overlapping mandates, fragmented timelines, and unclear accountabilities across agencies.
With the education sector receiving the largest allocation in the 2026 national budget, the agencies said clearer coordination is necessary to ensure funds translate into improved learner opportunities and outcomes –a marching order of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
Unlike previous coordination efforts that relied on intermittent meetings and circulars, the PWGs are now operational bodies with named leads, defined targets, and quarterly deliverables, which proactively group concerns by theme. The permanent working groups will be composed of senior officials from the three agencies, and will cover ten priority areas: Early Childhood Education and Development; Senior High School and Pathways; Inclusive Education; Functional Literacy and Learning Recovery; Workforce Development; Tertiary Education Scholarships; Teacher Education, Professionalization, and Training; Creative Economy including Arts and Culture; Strategic Communications; and Legislative and Policy Agenda alignment. Education Secretary Sonny Angara said the shift to permanent working groups makes execution systematic for frontline implementers.
“Mas nagiging simple para sa mga nasa paaralan at rehiyon kapag malinaw kung sino ang kausap at ano ang susundin. Ang layunin nito ay bawasan ang kalituhan at pabilisin ang tulong na kailangan ng mga mag-aaral at guro,” Angara said.
CHED Chairperson Shirley C. Agrupis further emphasized that these permanent bodies will address the structural gaps that have long hindered the sector. “The Permanent Working Groups of our Joint ManComm move us beyond ad hoc coordination. With clear
leadership, defined targets, and regular deliverables, they address long-standing gaps caused by overlapping mandates and fragmented timelines. They allow our policies, programs, and budgets to move together.”
TESDA Secretary Kiko Benitez said, “Sa matibay na pakikipag-ugnayan ng TESDA sa DepEd at CHED, we are building clearer pathways where learners can move seamlessly from basic education to higher education or technical education. Mas magiging madali para sa Pilipino ang makakuha ng future-ready skills that will land them decent jobs.”
Several of the PWGs began target-setting sessions identifying concrete actions aligned with the administration’s priority reforms, and with special provisions under the 2026 General Appropriations Act. Joining DepEd, CHED, and TESDA, are officials from the ECCD Council, PRC, University of the Philippines, among others.
The agencies agreed to sustain regular progress reviews and escalation of unresolved issues to the Secretaries, and to the Management Committee level, slated to be convened every quarter, as part of a broader effort to ensure that critical education reforms funded in 2026 are delivered to improve access and quality of education.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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