the biggest budget allocation by the national government for the past five years. Table 1: Budget allocation to DepEd, CHED and TESDA from 2018-2022, in billions of Philippine pesos 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 DepEd - - - 531.6 553.3 SUCs - - - 68.3 62.1 CHED - - - 52.4 49.4 TESDA - - - 12.6 7.6 Total Education Budget 773.6 751.7 692.6 664.9 672.4 Source: Department of Budget and Management (DBM)17 6. Meanwhile, there has been a slight decline in the total number of junior high school (JHS) enrollees in public and private schools from 2018 to 2021, while a slight increase is evident in senior high school (SHS) enrollees in the same period. Table 2: Junior High School Enrollees School Year (SY) Public Private SUCs/LUCs Total 2018-2019 6,840,249 1,421,817 54,229 8,320,627 2019-2020 7,004,355 1,439,507 53,107 8,503,650 2020-2021 7,043,981 1,238,473 50,779 8,339,391 Source: Department of Education18 Table 3: Senior High School Enrollees School Year (SY) Public Private SUCs/LUCs Total 2018-2019 1,599,637 1,339,951 82,268 3,022,841 2019-2020 1,766,818 1,357,882 67,702 3,194,035 2020-2021 1,987,180 1,189,707 58,219 3,236,827 Source: Department of Education19 7. However, for the school year 2020 to 2021, DepEd only recorded a total of 288,687 public school teachers for junior high school and 74,056 for senior high school.20 In 2020, the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) published an overview of the state of education in the country, noting that the classroom-learner ratio in junior high school was 1:39 and 1:31 in 17 Department of Budget and Management, 2019 National Budget: Building a Bright Future for the Philippines and Its People, available at https://www.dbm.gov.ph/images/pdffiles/2019-People's-Budget-Quick-Glance_English-Version.pdf (last accessed Jun 21, 2022). 18 Department of Education, Datasets: Historical Enrollment data, available at https://www.deped.gov.ph/alternativelearning-system/resources/facts-and-figures/datasets/ (last accessed June 21, 2022). 19 Id. 20 Ma. Teresa Montemayor, 2018 Senior High School implementation exceeds DepEd outlook, PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY, Dec. 28, 2018, available at https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1057609 (last accessed June 21, 2022). 11