CHEd closes 26 teacher education programs

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has closed 26 teacher education programs in 11 teacher education institutions (TEIs) for failing to comply with quality standards.

CHEd Chair Shirley Agrupis made the disclosure during last Friday’s Senate deliberations on the commission’s P35.45 billion budget under the 2027 National Expenditure Program.

“We have 11 teacher education institutions that we closed down, 26 programs. So we continue to do this and we are recalibrating our monitoring system,’’ Agrupis said in a statement, referring to specialized colleges and universities for educators.

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This comes as the commission intensifies its crackdown on non-compliant programs amid concerns over so-called diploma mills in teacher education.

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) has found that 177 TEIs recorded zero passing rates in the Licensure Examination for Teachers from 2012 to 2022.

‘Discipline’ among TEIs

Senate President and EDCOM 2 co-chair Sherwin Gatchalian pointed out that poor-quality programs can waste both public resources and students’ time.

“We have to have [instill] discipline among our TEIs because it’s not only the subsidies we provide to operate these TEIs that could go to waste, but also the students’ time if they don’t end up passing or if the quality [of education] isn’t good,” he said.

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CHEd, together with the Teacher Education Council, has been working to identify institutions that comply with the commission’s standards, according to Agrupis.

The Philippine Teacher Education Registry (PhilTER) was launched in November 2025 by CHEd, Professional Regulation Commission, Department of Education, and Teacher Education Council, making public the list of CHEd-compliant teacher education programs.

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The registry is also intended to support the agencies’ joint quality assurance efforts for teacher education programs from December 2025 to March 2027.

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Monitoring process

As part of its monitoring and quality assurance process, CHEd classifies TEIs as conditional, incomplete, or failed, Agrupis said.

Programs found to have failed to meet CHEd requirements may be closed, while institutions under conditional status are given a period to address deficiencies and improve their compliance.

“There are conditional [programs], there are incomplete [programs], and there are failed [programs]. If they really fail, [the program is] closed. If they are conditional, we give them a certain developmental part of our mandate,” Agrupis said.

Agrupis said institutions placed under conditional status are given support for a defined period, but the status cannot continue indefinitely.

“If it’s really conditional, we will give them support in a given period of time, but it cannot be forever. After a given period of time, just like the students given one semester to complete, then we will really close it,” she said.

She added that many cases involving teacher education programs remain ongoing, prompting CHEd to create a nationwide technical working group to investigate and monitor these institutions.

Gatchalian said EDCOM 2 would continue supporting CHEd’s efforts to enforce quality standards among TEIs.

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“It’s not an easy task to close schools. EDCOM will also support you also on this because this is not an easy task, and this is one of the directions we see as necessary,” he said. /das