An interagency body and a 10-year national plan seek to better connect education, training and employment through shared data and measurable results
MANILA — A renewed call for schools, employers and government agencies to work more closely has sharpened attention on how the Philippines oversees education and workforce development.
Philippine Institute for Development Studies Senior Research Fellow Michael Ralph M. Abrigo said in a government broadcast interview Thursday, Aug. 6, that closer coordination was needed to prepare Filipinos for changing workplace demands. He cited reforms in basic education and the role employers can play in helping schools identify skills required in actual workplaces.
Responsibility for education is divided principally among the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, making coordination across agencies central to efforts to reduce skills mismatches.
In August 2025, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. created the Education and Workforce Development Group through Administrative Order No. 36. Chaired by the president, the body was tasked with coordinating education and workforce programs, reviewing overlapping functions, strengthening labor-market information and monitoring agency performance.
The government has also committed to implementing the National Education and Workforce Development Plan for 2026 to 2035. Its priorities include aligning senior high school and technical-vocational programs with employment needs, improving teacher education and developing a unified labor-market information system.
Previous government reviews found that labor and skills data were dispersed across agencies. The Second Congressional Commission on Education, or EDCOM 2, said separate systems maintained by labor, training and trade agencies did not adequately intersect, limiting their usefulness in guiding scholarships, curricula and training programs.
A 2024 PIDS discussion paper found no statistically significant evidence that the country’s trifocalized education structure had independently improved education outcomes. The study did not conclude that trifocalization caused weak performance, but identified coordination and accountability as areas requiring reform.
