MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) signed a Joint Memorandum Circular Thursday in Malacañang to align the Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (LEPT) with the teacher education curriculum, beginning September 2025.

The signing, witnessed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., follows his directive during the Sectoral Meeting on the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) Year Two Report, titled Fixing the Foundations, held on March 4, 2025. 

During that meeting, the President called for the urgent alignment of the teacher education curriculum and the LEPT, which remains a key issue as legislation to amend RA 7836 or the Teacher Professionalization Act of 1994 is still in progress.

“Teachers shape our nation’s future. This landmark reform embodies our commitment to ensuring that every Filipino teacher is equipped with the skills and tools needed to teach with depth, with clarity and with purpose. It is a vital step towards raising the quality of education for our present and, most importantly, our future generations,” said Marcos.

The EDCOM Report reveals a long-standing misalignment between the teacher education curriculum issued by CHED and the content of the Basic Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (BLEPT) administered by PRC. This gap has contributed to low passing rates and specialization mismatches in schools. 

For instance, in the March 2024 BLEPT, graduates taking the MAPEH (34.1 percent) and TLTVE (33.2 percent) exams had passing rates well below the average of 62.9 percent. Early Childhood Education graduates also showed a passing rate of only 42.1 percent, compared to the average of 53.8 percent for the Elementary BLEPT.

The misalignment has also led to a teacher specialization mismatch, with 62% of high school teachers assigned to subjects that do not match their college majors. 

To address this, the new Joint Circular will phase in specialized exams starting in September 2025, including for fields like Early Childhood Education and Special Needs Education. 

This reform aims to ensure that licensure exams accurately reflect the competencies required for effective teaching in various educational specializations.

“By September 2025, we will endeavor to have specialized exams for teacher education programs: including early childhood and special needs education. This provides an additional layer of quality assurance, ensuring that the Department of Education can effectively seek out not just any licensed individual, but specifically those who are rightly qualified,” said PRC Chairperson Atty. Charito Zamora.

EDCOM 2 Co-Chairperson Rep. Roman Romulo emphasized the importance of the alignment for the quality of education. 

“Our ultimate goal is quality education, and we can only achieve this if we have teachers who truly understand what they teach. This alignment of the LEPT with the teacher education curriculum ensures that our educators are not just qualified, but are deeply knowledgeable in their specific fields. This is a big step towards providing the quality education that our students deserve,” he said.

Senator Win Gatchalian, also a Co-Chairperson of EDCOM 2, likewise said the need to address teacher-subject mismatch. 

“We need to make sure that the assessment of our aspiring teachers reflects their specializations. Implementing specialized versions of the LEPT is one step to address teacher-subject mismatch, which will eventually help us improve the quality of instruction in our schools,” he noted.