The Department of Education (DepEd) announced on Wednesday that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in public schools will be allowed following the issuance of Ministerial Order No. 003 of the 2026 Series, or Basic Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Basic Education.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara said in an ambush interview that AI will be used as a support tool for learning and teaching.
“There may be an ethical use of AI. We will not ban the use of AI,” he told Philippine News Agency.
General guidelines issued on February 20 will allow all teaching and non-teaching staff and learners to explore new tools and methods, as long as they are in line with “ethical, pedagogical and human-centered standards” to ensure the overall safety of users.
AI must “work strictly” as an auxiliary tool and not “replace” the critical role of teachers in assessing learners. And in all educational matters in public schools, human judgment must remain the “first priority.”
AI tools can also be used to create and enhance educational materials for educators, and serve as additional support for data analysis, grammar checking, and citation verification in research and data collection.
It can also be used to develop assessment tools for exams, quizzes, activities, and other assessments, subject to strict supervision, validation, and judgment by public school teachers.
From a classification perspective, AI applications used for scoring, admissions, scholarships, and disciplinary actions are considered “high risk” and should only be allowed with strict safeguards and human oversight.
AI applications that learners and staff interact with, such as chatbots for administrative queries and AI tools for spam filters, grammar correction, and IT automation, are each considered minimal risk AI.
responsible use
Angara said this direction will require more responsible use for both learners and teachers.
“All we need is for students to identify how they are incorporating AI into their learning,” he says.
As a result, learners are required to submit work with a citation of the AI tool and how it was used for brainstorming, writing, research, creating presentations, and even supporting homework assignments.
These applications include ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Grammarly, Quillbot, Canva, Tome, Khanmigo, and more.
“This is a phased policy, where more independent learners will be given more freedom,” Angara said.
However, DepEd prohibits the use of AI applications that pose serious risks to the rights, safety, and well-being of learners and education personnel.
Prohibited applications include AI systems that use biometrics or emotional recognition, biometric classification, manipulative chatbots aimed at minors, social scoring, untargeted facial recognition scraping, or the indiscriminate collection and use of facial images from public and private sources.
Overall, DepEd believes that it is inappropriate when AI tools are used as a substitute for human participation and decision-making, as the sole source of data, and as a mechanism for bio-emotional recognition and other related functions that may compromise the safety and privacy of learners.
In January, DepEd launched Project AGAP.AI (Artificial Intelligence Acceleration of Governance and Adaptive Pedagogy) to increase awareness and advanced AI literacy for integration into basic education.
In partnership with the ASEAN Foundation and Google.org, the funded AI skills training program will reach at least 1.05 million learners, 300,000 teachers and 150,000 parents in the country. (PNA)
