DepEd 6.06

The Department of Education is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for ensuring access to, promoting equity in, and improving the quality of basic education. It is the main agency tasked to manage and govern the Philippine system of basic education. It is the chief formulator of Philippine educational policy and responsible for the Philippine primary and secondary school systems. It has its headquarters at the DepEd Complex in Meralco Avenue, Pasig City.The department is currently led by the Secretary of Education, nominated by the President of the Philippines and confirmed by the Commission on Appointments. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet. The current Secretary of Education is Leonor Briones. Presently, its mission is to provide quality basic education that is equitably accessible to all and lay the foundation for lifelong learning and service for the common good. It has changed its vision statement, removing a phrase that some groups deem to be "too secretarian" for a government institution.HistoryDuring the early Spanish period, education in the Philippines was religion-oriented and was primarily for the elite, especially in the first years of Spanish colonization. Access to education by Filipinos was later liberalized through the enactment of the Educational Decree of 1863, which provided for the establishment of at least one primary school for boys and girls in each town under the responsibility of the municipal government; and the establishment of a normal school for male teachers under the supervision of the Jesuits. Primary instruction was secularized and free, and the teaching of Spanish was compulsory. It was also through this decree that the Superior Commission of Primary Instruction was established, the seminal agency of the Department of Education.