On February 20, 2026, the Philippines Department of Education (DepEd) issued Department Order No. 003, Series of 2026, the Foundational Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence in Basic Education. This was not a tentative exploration but a national framework.
The Reality DepEd Acknowledged
Education Secretary Sonny Angara was direct: AI use in classrooms has "outpaced the ability of the basic education system to put in place clear, unified and enforceable policies." Teachers were already using AI. Parents and students were already using AI. Schools had no shared framework.
What Teachers Can Actually Do Now
Under the guidelines, teachers can use AI for lesson planning and content development, generating quiz and assessment questions (with validation), providing feedback on student work, analyzing student data to identify who needs support, and administrative tasks like report drafting.
Specific tools approved include ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Grammarly, Quillbot, Canva, Tome, and Khanmigo. For learners, these same tools are permitted provided students disclose how they used AI in their work.
What Is Explicitly Off-Limits
AI cannot replace teacher judgment in grading, evaluation, or major academic decisions. Banned applications include: facial recognition scraping, emotion detection systems, social scoring, and manipulative chatbots targeting minors.
Kindergarten through Grade 3 students have restricted direct AI interaction.
The Infrastructure Behind the Policy
Project AGAP.AI launched in January 2026 with presidential backing: 1.05 million students, 300,000 teachers, and 150,000 parents targeted to receive funded AI skills training in partnership with the ASEAN Foundation and Google.org.
DepEd also established the Education Center for AI Research (E-CAIR) and is partnering with MIT to integrate AI literacy into the basic education curriculum.
The Risk Classification Framework
Minimal Risk: Grammar correction, spam filters, IT automation.
Limited Risk: AI tools interacting with learners and staff, like tutoring systems.
High-Risk: Grading systems, admissions decisions, disciplinary actions, all require strict safeguards and human oversight.
What This Signals
When a government with 17,000+ public schools takes the time to issue formal AI guidelines, it is signaling that AI in education is no longer optional. It is infrastructure. Teacher judgment remains non-negotiable. And transparency matters more than prohibition.