DepEd expands Adopt-A-School to support safety needs
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) brought the 2026 Adopt-A-School Program (ASP) Caravan to Mindanao on Tuesday to drum up private sector support for school safety and security.
The Mindanao caravan, which DepEd launched after a successful kickoff of its nationwide roadshow in Bacolod City for the Visayas cluster, includes a new School Safety Package on the newly launched ASP digital platform microsite, according to a DepEd statement.
This microsite will enable corporate sponsors, civic groups, and private donors to fund priority safety projects—including perimeter fences, CCTV camera systems, metal detectors, security personnel support, and public address systems.
READ: DepEd unveils Adopt-A-School platform for private sector support
“Under the leadership of President [Ferdinand] Bongbong Marcos [Jr.], we are making sure that our strategic partnerships directly address real, on-the-ground needs—starting with the fundamental right of every child to feel secure inside their classrooms,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara.
“Our goal in expanding the Adopt-A-School Program is not just to provide supplies, but to ensure that our learners’ environment is safe and well-maintained,” he added.
The caravan featured DepEd’s expanded Menu of Programs, which aligns private investments with the agency’s 5-Point Reform Agenda and the recommendations from the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2).
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) also presented their respective menus of investment to promote broader collaboration among basic, technical, and tertiary education and partner agencies.
The ASP Caravan featured other priority projects, including classroom construction and senior high school work immersion programs.
READ: DepEd gives awards to Adopt-a-School program partners
Other ASP packages cover school facilities, teacher support, school feeding programs, and learning resources.
The ASP platform also offers ways to streamline partner engagement — transparent project matching, digital pledge tracking, and direct access to tax incentive processes under the Adopt-A-School Act of 1998 (Republic Act No. 8525) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Revenue Regulations No. 13-2025.
“We are moving from traditional charity to strategic investment,” Angara said.
“By giving our partners a transparent, digitalized menu of programs, we are ensuring that every peso donated goes directly to where it can protect a child or empower a teacher,” he added. /atm
