DepEd launches inclusive employment policy to strengthen fair, safe workplace

The Department of Education has formally rolled out its Inclusive Employment (IE) Policy, a system-wide framework meant to standardize workplace practices and eliminate discrimination across the country’s largest government agency.

Launched Tuesday, November 25, the policy — DepEd Order No. 30, s. 2025 — is aligned with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s education agenda to modernize the teaching force, professionalize the bureaucracy, and strengthen institutional culture.

DepEd described the initiative as a major turning point after years of “fragmented” and uneven implementation of diversity, non-discrimination, and inclusion practices across its regional and division offices.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara said the policy aims to ensure a safe, impartial, and dignified environment for the agency’s more than one million teaching and non-teaching personnel.

“Kung itinuturo natin sa mga kabataan na ang respeto ay dapat pantay-pantay, dapat iyon din ang nararanasan ng bawat kawani sa DepEd. Wala at hindi magkakaroon ng puwang ang diskriminasyon sa ating mga opisina at paaralan. Panahon na para maramdaman ng bawat empleyado na may lugar sila, may boses sila, at may pagkakataon silang umunlad,” Angara said at the launch event attended by government agencies, civil society groups, foreign partners, teachers, and employees.

(If we teach young people that respect should be equal for all, then every DepEd employee should experience the same. There is no and there will never be a place for discrimination in our offices and schools. It is time for every employee to feel that they belong, that they have a voice, and that they have opportunities to grow.)

Before the rollout of the new framework, inclusion-related practices varied widely across DepEd’s offices, resulting in uneven access to opportunities and inconsistent enforcement of workplace protections. Employees and advocacy groups had long sought a more coherent system for equal opportunities and accommodations.

The IE Policy consolidates all existing efforts into a single governance structure. It sets standards for equal opportunity in hiring, promotion, capacity-building, and daily office operations; requires clear accountability mechanisms; and mandates every governance level to submit an annual inclusion report.

Representatives from the Australian Embassy, The Asia Foundation, the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and various women’s and labor organizations expressed support for the initiative, saying it brings DepEd’s human-resource culture closer to global inclusive employment standards.

Civil society groups also characterized the policy as a long-overdue reform for employees who previously faced stalled career progression, inadequate accommodations, or bias related to disability, identity, religion, gender, age, or familial status.

Angara stressed that the rollout is “not just symbolic” but operational, describing it as a push for consistency, accountability, and transparency across the agency’s workforce systems.

The launch of the IE Policy comes on the heels of the Senate’s approval of DepEd’s 2026 budget — the largest in the department’s history which includes significant increases in new teaching and non-teaching positions. DepEd said the additional resources will support the full implementation of the policy and help foster a more equitable workplace for all its personnel.—AOL, GMA Integrated News