MANILA — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and the Economy and Development (ED) Council have approved the Project for Learning Upgrade Support and Decentralization (PLUS-D), a national education initiative aimed at addressing learning losses and empowering regions and schools to implement key reforms.

The Department of Education (DepEd) will manage the project, which will channel funds and technical support directly to schools and regional offices to accelerate learning recovery in early grades and improve teaching quality in junior high school. The program will combine nationwide learning initiatives with targeted grants for more than 11,000 schools capable of carrying out decentralized education activities.

Backed by the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev), the six-year project will be funded by ₱34.79 billion (USD 600 million) from the World Bank and ₱3.47 billion (USD 60 million) in counterpart funding from the Philippine government. The project is expected to benefit around 21.2 million K–10 students through a mix of nationwide and localized interventions.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara described PLUS-D as a crucial step toward giving teachers and local leaders greater decision-making power.

“Alam nating hindi kailangan na pare-pareho ang solusyon sa paglutas ng learning gap sa bawat silid-aralan. With PLUS-D, schools with the capacity and readiness can move faster, innovate more, and be held accountable for real results for learners. We need to trust those closest to the children,” Angara said.

PLUS-D’s system-level interventions include providing technical and operational support for a nationwide learning acceleration program that will address learning gaps from Kindergarten to Grade 6 under the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program.

The project also features a grant program for regional offices and schools to fund local initiatives aimed at enhancing learning outcomes, strengthening teacher competencies, and promoting inclusive education. Schools that demonstrate significant improvements in performance may receive additional funding and public recognition under a performance-based accountability mechanism.

PLUS-D will also increase the number of teachers receiving laptops, complementing the ongoing Computerization Program and advancing DepEd’s push for digital transformation in basic education.

Implementation will begin in selected regions based on readiness indicators, including planning capacity, financial management, and governance systems.

“This approval sends a clear message that education reform will no longer be centrally controlled and painfully slow,” Angara said. “Our mission is to let local leadership thrive, and let Filipino learners recover and rise.”