MANILA — The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) said a decade-long reform is needed to address the country’s deepening education crisis.

“Kailangan po sa lalim na problema inipon natin ng halos tatlong dekada, we need at least 10 years. It is a decade of necessary reform,” EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee told Super Radyo dzBB.

EDCOM 2 is set to submit its third and final report on Monday, January 19, which includes a national education plan. Yee said the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) will begin implementing the recommendations within two years.

The recommendations detail how many additional teachers and classrooms are needed annually.

“Para sa bawat taon na nagkulang, alam natin kung ano ang balanse, alam natin kung kailan kailangan dagdagan pa ang pondo,” Yee said. (This allows us to determine, for each year, how many teachers and classrooms are needed in order to calculate the required budget.)

“For the next two years, sisisiguraduhin ng EDCOM na hindi nagkulang sa implementation,” he added. (For the next two years, EDCOM will ensure that implementation is not lacking.)

In September 2025, EDCOM 2 reported a shortage of 165,000 classrooms nationwide, forcing kindergarteners to attend school as early as dawn or stay home. Yee also highlighted the impact of repeated class suspensions due to holidays, bad weather, or extreme heat, which disrupt learning and worsen the country’s literacy crisis.

“Nakita last year, sa isang taon halos isang buong quarter ubos. Talagang walang natitira,” Yee said. (Last year, we found that students lost almost an entire quarter of learning time due to suspensions.)

“Dahil sa rami ng suspension nangyayari sa loob ng isang year, nakikita natin 30 to 50 days talagang suspended ang klase sa isang taon,” he added. (Due to the number of class suspensions in a year, we found that 30 to 50 school days are lost.)

In December 2025, EDCOM 2 also reported that 85 percent of Grade 1 to 3 pupils struggle with reading, signaling a severe foundational learning crisis in the country.