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Against all odds, public schools of 4th class city beat Metro Manila
By Creselda Canda-Lopez
“If you look at the names of top-performing schools, it’s usually cities with large purses,” Department of Education Secretary Sonny Angara said during EDCOM 2’s visit to two schools on Tuesday, October 29 small city in Nueva Ecija have just schooled Metro Manila in nationwide exam.
Despite operating on a shoestring budget, two public schools from fourth-class Gapan City outperformed over 300 public and private schools in Metro Manila in the latest National Achievement Test.
Numbers tell story. Both Gapan East Integrated School and Kapalangan National High School beat over 90% of Metro Manila schools in problem-solving, information literacy and critical thinking.
Nationwide, two schools achieved “above average” scores in all three test categories, Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) said.
Gapan East’s score of 64.2 and Kapalangan’s score of 60.6 in problem-solving beat over 300 out of 342 Metro Manila schools. Both also soared above national average of 44.1 in this category.
In information literacy, Gapan East scored 62 and Kapalangan 60.1 both well above 42.8 national average. For critical thinking, Gapan East achieved 59.7 and Kapalangan 59.4, leaving the national average of 40.3 far behind. This rare win comes from city operating on just around P9.6 million in local education funds as of 2021. This is 40% below average for fourth-class cities and 92% less than city with lowest special education fund in Metro Manila (Navotas City, with P127 million).
For others, it’s a rare success story in a country that has often attributed poor performance to schools’ lack of funds.
For experts at EDCOM 2, it’s model of what can be achieved when local government, schools division officials and community rally behind cash-strapped schools.
“Yet Gapan is doing above average and showing good results with fairly average budget among cities and local government units… indicator of quality,” Angara said in EDCOM 2 press release.
Achievement has drawn education experts to Gapan, with EDCOM 2 and UNICEF Philippines investigating how these schools managed to excel despite limitations of their special education fund.
Special education fund is fund for basic education that is collected from local governments’ real property tax. It is fund used by local government units to build new classrooms and procure new books and learning materials, among others.
Gapan achieved its cityhood in August 2021. It is 4th city income class with poverty incidence of 12.26% as of 2021 data slightly below Nueva Ecija’s average poverty incidence at 13.9%.
City has 41 public schools. When all of its maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) budgets are combined with city’s special education fund, it shows P1,599 in public funds is spent on each student on average, according to EDCOM 2.
Gapan’s experience highlights need for strategic spending of limited funds and for DepEd to collaborate with local communities and local governments, according to the commission.
“Complementing national government’s School MOOE funding with partnerships, donations, and LGU support have enabled school heads and teachers of Gapan East Integrated School and Kapalangan National High School to address resource gaps and foster conducive learning environments,” EDCOM 2 said.
Visit included DepEd officials and representatives from UNICEF Philippines also shows Gapan’s success stems from resources being pooled together from private donors “with focus on developing foundational skills in literacy and numeracy.”
During visit, officials found both schools still face challenges in resources. Gapan East Integrated School Principal Julita Aguilar revealed that while they have computers, they lack internet connectivity. School also has one building marked for condemnation.
While increasing schools’ MOOE is goal, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said, schools like Gapan that focus on direct learning and student development are already seeing clear gains.
“We need to review how we compute School MOOE… needs to truly reflect needs on the ground and also good spending strategy from school leader,” the senator stressed.
There may be relief on horizon for schools like Gapan East and Kapalangan.
For 2025, DepEd has adopted modified funding formula that will increase School MOOE allocation by 32%, according to EDCOM 2.
Department of Budget and Management has also committed to implementing new formula in full for 2026. Based on EDCOM 2’s estimates, this could result in estimated 85% increase in schools’ overall MOOE budget.
While EDCOM 2 welcomes projected increase in schools’ funds, it also “recommends DepEd further review minimum service standards to enable teachers to adopt learner-centered and inquiry-based approaches.”
EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee said: “for instance, what are needs of schools implementing special curricular programs, like science elementary and secondary schools, on top of usual operating costs of public schools ,what minimum service standards would support and foster learning as envisioned in recent curricular reforms?”
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