DepEd tightens textbook tracking to ensure timely deliveries

MANILA, Philippines – Following its historic completion of all target textbook title procurements for 2026, the Department of Education (DepEd) is strengthening the use of its Learning Resource Management and Information System (LRMIS) to better track textbooks and teachers’ manuals at the school level.

DepEd recently secured all 105 target textbook titles for public elementary and secondary schools, covering the successive phases of curriculum implementation from Grades 1, 4, 7, and Senior High School in 2024; Grade 3 and Grades 2, 5, and 8 in 2025; and Grades 6, 9, and 10 in 2026.

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The DepEd said the procurement milestone addresses long-standing bottlenecks flagged by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), which noted that DepEd procured only 27 of 88 required titles from 2014 to 2023.

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As all 105 approved printed and electronic textbook titles move through procurement and nationwide distribution, DepEd said real-time school-level tracking through LRMIS will be critical in strengthening delivery monitoring and ensuring that learning resources reach the schools and learners that need them most.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara said the next challenge is ensuring that procured and delivered learning resources are properly tracked from national distribution to the school level, accounted for, and directed to learners and teachers who need them most.

“Natapos natin ang isang malaking bottleneck sa procurement. Pero hindi doon natatapos ang trabaho. Kailangan nating makita kung nasaan na ang textbooks, ilan ang hawak ng bawat school, anong grade level at learning area ang kulang, at saan puwedeng mag-reallocate kung may sobra o buffer stock. Iyan ang inaayos natin sa LRMIS,” Angara said.

DepEd explained that achieving a 1:1 textbook-to-student ratio requires more than procuring the right number of textbooks.

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Enrollment changes every year across schools, grade levels, and localities, while textbooks may also be lost or damaged during their active use.

Through LRMIS, schools may encode inventory data by learning resource, grade level, and learning area, which can be compared with current enrollment to identify gaps, verify deliveries, and guide the reallocation of available buffer stock.

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The system provides a centralized learning resource database, real-time inventory visibility, standardized reporting, and automated data-driven reports across schools, Schools Division Offices, Regional Offices, and the Central Office.

As of August 27, 2026, 37,705 public schools, or 78 percent of all DepEd schools, had registered on LRMIS, while 17,797 schools had encoded their existing textbook and teachers’ manual inventory, equivalent to around 37 percent of all DepEd schools and 77 percent of schools covered in the current encoding phase.

Schools had also encoded 20,520,035 learning resources in the system based on extracted regional inventory data.

“May mga lugar na naapektuhan ang encoding dahil sa masamang panahon, at inuuna natin ang safety at operasyon ng schools. Pero tuloy ang rollout. Habang mas maraming schools ang nag-e-encode, mas malinaw nating makikita kung saan kulang, saan sobra, at saan kailangang maglipat o magdagdag ng learning resources,” Angara said.

DepEd said LRMIS responds to the need for more granular and actionable textbook data, especially amid public discussions on whether textbooks have already reached schools.

The DepEd emphasized that delivery tracking should go beyond broad categories such as complete, partial, or none, and should show actual quantities by school, grade level, and learning area against current enrollment.

Currently in Phase 1, LRMIS covers school registration and baseline inventory of textbooks and teachers’ manuals.

Its next phase will provide real-time inventory data alongside current enrollment, allow reallocation of textbooks where needed, support reporting of damaged textbooks and teachers’ manuals for replacement, and provide standardized reports based on the needs of each office.

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Through LRMIS, DepEd aims to strengthen accountability in textbook management and ensure that learning resources are better tracked and more quickly directed to schools and learners that need them most.