Republic Act

No. 9155
Overview

•Mission: to provide quality basic education

that is equitably accessible to all and lay the
foundation for life-long learning and service
for the common good.
Republic Act No. 1955
• An act instituting a framework of governance for
basic education,
• Establishing authority and accountability,
• Renaming the department of education, culture and
sports as the department of education, and for other
purposes.
 Chapter 1
Governance of Basic Education

• Section 1 : This Act shall be known as the

“Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001.”
Section 2: Declaration of Policy
• It is hereby declared the policy of the State to protect
to and promote the right of all citizens to quality basic
education and to make such education accessible to
all by providing all Filipino children free and
compulsory education in the elementary level and
free education in the high school level. Such education
shall also include alternative learning systems for out-
of-school youth and adult learners. It shall be the goal
of basic education to provide them with the skills,
knowledge and values they need to become caring,
self reliant, productive and patriotic citizens.
• The school shall be the heart of the formal education
system. It is where children learn. Schools shall have a
single aim of providing the best possible basic
education for all learners.
• Governance of basic education shall begin at the
national level. It is at the regions, divisions, schools
and learning centers herein referred to as the field
offices – where the policy and principle for the
governance of basic education shall be translated into
programs, projects and services developed, adapted
and offered to fit local needs.
• The State shall encourage local initiatives for
improving the quality of basic education.
Section 3: Purposes and Objectives
• To provide the framework for the governance of basic
education which shall set the general directions for
educational policies and standards and establish
authority, accountability and responsibility for
achieving higher outcomes.
• To define the roles and responsibilities of and provide
resources to, the field offices which shall implement
educational programs, projects and services in
communities they serve;
• To make schools and learning centers the most
important vehicle for the teaching and learning of
national values and for developing in the Filipino
learners love of country and pride in its rich heritage;
• To ensure that schools and learning centers receive
this kind of focused attention they deserve and that
educational programs, projects and services take into
account the interests of all members of the
community;
• To enable schools and learning centers to reflect the
values of the community by allowing
teachers/learning facilitators and other staff to have
the flexibility to serve the needs of all learners;
• To encourage local initiatives for the improvement of
schools and learning centers and to provide the
means by which these improvements may be
achieved and sustained; and
• To establish schools and learning centers as facilities
where school children are able to learn a range of core
competencies prescribed for elementary and high
school education programs or where the out-of-
school youth and adult learners are provided
alternative
Sec. 4. Definition of Terms
• (a) Alternative Learning System – is a parallel
learning system to provide a viable alternative to the
existing formal education instruction.
• (b) Basic Education – is the education intended to
meet basic learning needs which lays the foundation
on which subsequent learning can be based.
• (c) Cluster of Schools – is a group of schools which
are geographically contiguous and brought together to
improve the learning outcomes;
• (d) Formal Education – is the systematic and
deliberate process of hierarchically structured and
sequential learning corresponding to the general
concept of elementary and secondary level of
schooling.
• (e) Informal Education – is a lifelong process of
learning by which every person acquires and
accumulates knowledge, skills, attitudes and insights
from daily experiences at home, at work, at play and
from life itself;
• (f) Integrated Schools – is a school that offers a
complete basic education in one school site and has
unified instructional programs;
• (g) Learner – is any individual seeking basic literacy
skills and functional life skills or support services for
the improvement of the quality of his/her life;
• (h) Learning Center – is a physical space to house
learning resources and facilities of a learning program
for out-of-school youth and adults.
• (i) Learning Facilitator – is the key-learning support
person who is responsible for supervising/facilitating
the learning process and activities of the learner;
• (j) Non-Formal Education – is any organized,
systematic educational activity carried outside the
framework of the formal system to provide selected
types of learning to a segment of the population;
• (k) Quality Education – is the appropriateness,
relevance and excellence of the education given to
meet the needs and aspirations of an individual and
society;
• (l) School – is an educational institution, private and
public, undertaking educational operation with a
specific age-group of pupils or students pursuing
defined studies at defined levels, receiving instruction
from teachers, usually located in a building or a group
of buildings in a particular physical or cyber site; and
• (m) School Head – is a person responsible for the
administrative and instructional supervision of the
school or cluster of schools.
Sec. 5. Principles of Shared Governance.
• (a) Shared governance is a principle which recognizes
that every unit in the education bureaucracy has a
particular role, task and responsibility inherent in the
office and for which it is principally accountable for
outcomes;
• (b) The process of democratic consultation shall be
observed in the decision-making process at
appropriate levels. Feedback mechanisms shall be
established to ensure coordination and open
communication of the central office with the regional,
division and school levels;
• (c) The principles of accountability and transparency
shall be operationalized in the performance of
functions and responsibilities at all levels; and
• (d) The communication channels of field offices shall
be strengthened to facilitate flow of information and
expand linkages with other government agencies,
local government units and nongovernmental
organizations for effective governance;
Sec. 6. Governance
• The Department of Education, Culture and Sports shall
henceforth be called the Department of Education. It
shall be vested with authority, accountability and
responsibility for ensuring access to, promoting equity
in, and improving the quality of basic education. Arts,
culture and sports shall be as provided for in Sections
8 and 9 hereof.
Sec. 7. Powers, Duties and Functions

The Secretary of the Department of Education

shall exercise overall authority and supervision
over the operations of the Department.
A. National Level
• (1) Formulating national educational policies;
• (2) Formulating a national basic education plan;
• (3) Promulgating national educational standards;
• (4) Monitoring and assessing national learning
outcomes;
• (5) Undertaking national educational research and
studies;
• (6) Enhancing the employment status, professional
competence, welfare and working conditions of all
personnel of the Department; and
• (7) Enhancing the total development of learners
through local and national programs and/or projects.
B. Regional Level
• (1) Defining a regional educational policy framework
which reflects the values, needs and expectations of
the communities they serve;
• (2) Developing a regional basic education plan;
• (3) Developing regional educational standards with a
view towards benchmarking for international
competitiveness;
• (4) Monitoring, evaluating and assessing regional
learning outcomes;
• (5) Undertaking research projects and developing
and managing regionwide projects which may be
funded through official development assistance
and/or other funding agencies;
• (6) Ensuring strict compliance with prescribed
national criteria for the recruitment, selection and
training of all staff in the region and divisions;
• (7) Formulating, in coordination with the regional
development council, the budget to support the
regional educational plan which shall take into
account the educational plans of the divisions and
districts;
• (8) Determining the organization component of the
divisions and districts and approving the proposed
staffing pattern of all employees in the divisions and
districts;
• (9) Hiring, placing and evaluating all employees in
the regional office, except for the position of assistant
director;
• (10) Evaluating all schools division superintendents
and assistant division superintendents in the region;
• (11) Planning and managing the effective and
efficient use of all personnel, physical and fiscal
resources of the regional office, including professional
staff development;
• (12) Managing the database and management
information system of the region;
• (13) Approving the establishment of public and
private elementary and high schools and learning
centers; and
• (14) Performing such other functions as may be
assigned by proper authorities.
C. Division Level

• (1) Developing and implementing division education

development plans;
• (2) Planning and managing the effective and efficient
use of all personnel, physical and fiscal resources of
the division, including professional staff development;
• (3) Hiring, placing and evaluating all division
supervisors and schools district supervisors as well as
all employees in the division, both teaching and non-
teaching personnel, including school heads, except for
the assistant division superintendent;
• (4) Monitoring the utilization of funds provided by
the national government and the local government
units to the schools and learning centers;
• (5) Ensuring compliance of quality standards for basic
education programs and for this purpose
strengthening the role of division supervisors as
subject area specialists;
• (6) Promoting awareness of and adherence by all
schools and learning centers to accreditation
standards prescribed by the Secretary of Education;
• (7) Supervising the operations of all public and
private elementary, secondary and integrated schools,
and learning centers; and
• (8) Performing such other functions as may be
assigned by proper authorities.
D. Schools District Level
• (1) Providing professional and instructional advice
and support to the school heads and
teachers/facilitators of schools and learning centers in
the district or cluster thereof;
• (2) Curricula supervision; and
• (3) Performing such other functions as may be
assigned by proper authorities.
E. School Level
• (1) Setting the mission, vision, goals and objectives of
the school;
• (2) Creating an environment within the school that is
conducive to teaching and learning;
• (3) Implementing the school curriculum and being
accountable for higher learning outcomes;
• (4) Developing the school education program and
school improvement plan;
• (5) Offering educational programs, projects and
services which provide equitable opportunities for all
learners in the community;
• (6) Introducing new and innovative modes of
instruction to achieve higher learning outcomes;
• (7) Administering and managing all personnel,
physical and fiscal resources of the school;
• (8) Recommending the staffing complement of the
school based on its needs;
• (9) Encouraging staff development;
• (10) Establishing school and community networks
and encouraging the active participation of teachers
organizations, non-academic personnel of public
schools, and parents-teachers-community
associations;
• (11) Accepting donations, gifts, bequests and grants
for the purpose of upgrading teachers’/learning
facilitators’ competencies, improving and expanding
school facilities and providing instructional materials
and equipment. Such donations or grants must be
reported to the appropriate district supervisors and
division superintendents; and
• (12) Performing such other functions as may be
assigned by proper authorities.
• The Secretary of Education shall create a promotions board, at the
appropriate levels, which shall formulate and implement a system of
promotion for schools division supervisors, schools district
supervisors, and school heads. Promotion of school heads shall be
based on educational qualification, merit and performance rather
than on the number of teachers/learning facilitators and learners in
the school.
• The qualifications, salary grade, status of employment and welfare
and benefits of school heads shall be the same for public
elementary, secondary and integrated schools.
• No appointment to the positions of regional directors, assistant
regional directors, schools division superintendents and assistant
schools division superintendents shall be made unless the appointee
is a career executive service officer who preferably shall have risen
from the ranks.
CHAPTER 2 : Transfer of Cultural
Agencies
• Sec. 8. Cultural Agencies. – The Komisyon ng Wikang
Pilipino, National Historical Institute, Record
Management and Archives Office and the National
Library shall now be administratively attached to the
National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)
and no longer with the Department of Education.
CHAPTER 3: Abolition of the Bureau
of Physical Education and School
Sports
• Sec. 9. Abolition of BPESS. – All functions, programs
and activities of the Department of Education related
to sports competition shall be transferred to the
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC). The program for
school sports and physical fitness shall remain part of
the basic education curriculum.
CHAPTER 4: Support and Assistance
of Other Government Agencies
• Sec. 10. The Secretary of Education and the Secretary
of Budget and Management shall, within ninety (90)
days from the approval of this Act, jointly promulgate
the guidelines on the allocation, distribution and
utilization of resources provided by the national
government for the field offices, taking into
consideration the uniqueness of the working
conditions of the teaching service.
• Sec. 11. The Secretary of the Department of
Education, subject to civil service laws and
regulations, shall issue appropriate personnel policy
rules and regulations that will best meet the
requirements of the teaching profession taking into
consideration the uniqueness of the working
conditions of the teaching service.
• Sec. 12. The Commission on Audit, in the issuance of
audit rules and regulations that will govern the
utilization of all resources as well as the liquidation,
recording and reporting thereof, shall take into
account the different characteristics and distinct
features of the department’s field offices, its
organizational set-up as well as the nature of the
operations of schools and learning centers.
CHAPTER 5: Final Provisions
• Sec. 13. Governance in the ARMM. – The Regional Education
Secretary for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM) shall exercise similar governance authority over the
divisions, districts, schools and learning centers in the region
as may be provided in the Organic Act without prejudice to
the provisions of Republic Act No. 9054, entitled “An Act to
Strengthen and Expand the Organic Act for the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao, Amending for the Purpose
Republic Act No. 6734, entitled ‘An Act Providing for the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, as amended.'”
• Sec. 14. Rules and Regulations. – The Secretary of
Education shall promulgate the implementing rules
and regulations within ninety (90) days after the
approval of this Act: Provided, That, the Secretary of
Education shall fully implement the principle of shared
governance within two (2) years after the approval of
this Act.
• Sec. 15. Separability Clause. – If for any reason, any
portion or provision of this Act shall be declared
unconstitutional, other parts or provisions hereof
which are not affected thereby shall continue to be in
full force and effect.
• Sec. 16. Repealing Clause. – All laws, decrees,
executive orders, rules and regulations, part or parts
thereof, inconsistent with the provisions of this Act,
are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
• Sec. 17. Effectivity Clause. – This Act shall take effect
fifteen (15) days following its publication in at least
two (2) newspapers of general circulation.