DepEd secures all 105 required textbook titles, ends procurement woes

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Education (DepEd) secured 100 percent of 105 textbook titles needed for public schools this year, ending a decade-long procurement backlog that left millions of students and teachers without updated learning materials.

In a statement on Wednesday, the DepEd said the milestone represents nearly four times the number of titles it procured over the previous decade combined.

“For ten years, our public school system was trapped in a cycle where procuring a single textbook title took up to three years, leaving millions of learners and teachers without the fundamental tools they needed,” said Education Secretary Sonny Angara. 

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DepEd said procurement completion rose from 31 percent during the 2014–2023 period to 57 percent in 2024 and 2025 combined before reaching 100 percent this year.

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The department attributed the faster process to DepEd Order No. 008, series of 2025, which imposed stricter timelines, required blind content evaluations and removed redundant review stages.

The procurement covers learning resources for the successive phases of curriculum implementation.

These included Grades 1, 4, 7 and Senior High School in 2024; Grades 3, 2, 5 and 8 in 2025; and Grades 6, 9 and 10 in 2026.

“When 27 titles in a decade is your baseline, delivering 105 titles in a single year isn’t just an administrative achievement; it is a fundamental restoration of service to our learners,” Angara added. 

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The achievement addresses long-standing systemic bottlenecks highlighted by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2), which revealed that the agency managed to procure only 27 out of 88 required titles between 2014 and 2023.

Full delivery by DecemberThe procurement of K-12 textbooks and teachers’ manuals for Senior High School core subjects has reached the bid-opening stage, with complete bidders for all lots. 

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The documents are now undergoing detailed evaluation before the contracts can be awarded.

Once contracts are awarded, DepEd will proceed with production, nationwide distribution and logistics monitoring, with full delivery expected by December 2026.

READ: DepEd to address textbook accessibility, lack of publishers

“We dismantled unnecessary bottlenecks, strictly enforced timeline discipline, and proved that transparency, speed, and quality control can go hand-in-hand to ensure our schools receive complete, high-quality learning resources without delay,” said Angara.

Under the revised guidelines, initial technical checks must be completed within five days, while content evaluation is limited to 90 calendar days. 

Price considerations are also evaluated separately from the quality of learning materials.

Once a textbook passes quality assurance, it moves directly to procurement without further revisions, helping prevent the prolonged approval delays that previously left schools without updated instructional materials.

The new system also assigns responsibilities across DepEd offices, from oversight at the Central Office to delivery monitoring by regional and schools division offices and school principals.

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DepEd said all 105 approved printed and electronic textbook titles are now moving through procurement and nationwide distribution for classroom use. /gsg