The department is currently led by the secretary of education, nominated by the president of the Philippines and confirmed by the Commission on Appointments.

[5] Presently, its mission is to provide quality basic education that is equitably accessible to all and lay the foundation for lifelong learning and service for the common good.

Access to education by Filipinos was later liberalized through the enactment of the Educational Decree of 1863, which provided for the establishment of at least one primary school for boys and girls in each town under the responsibility of the municipal government, and the establishment of a normal school for male teachers under the supervision of the Jesuits.

The schools maintained by Spain for more than three centuries were closed temporarily but were reopened on August 29, 1898 by the secretary of the interior.

A secularized and free public school system during the first decade of American rule was established upon the recommendation of the Schurman Commission in 1900.

[7] A highly centralized public school system was instituted in January 1901 by the Taft Commission, by virtue of Act No.

The structure of DECS as embodied in EO 117 has practically remained unchanged until 1994, when the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) was established, and on August 25, 1994, when the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) was established to supervise tertiary degree programs and non-degree technical-vocational programs, respectively.

CHED is responsible for tertiary education, while TESDA now administers the post-secondary, middle-level manpower training and development.

The Department of Education drew flak online in November 2020 for an invitation for bidding on its website for the supply and delivery of ham and cheese for the DepEd Central Office worth ₱4.28 million.

The invitation read that the cost is equivalent to 4,260 hams and 2,160 cheese supplies for the annual Christmas celebration of the central office.

[15] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines in early 2020, the Department of Education shifted schools into distant learning with the use of online and printed self-learning modules later that year.

[16] In August 2020, a DepEd TV episode used for a test broadcast contained grammatical errors in the sample questionnaire for a Grade 8 English course.

[16] In April 2022, a month before the 2022 Philippine presidential election,[17] images of a Grade 11 self-learning module initially distributed in 2020 entitled "Introduction to Philosophy of the Human Person" contained exercises that portrayed and addressed Vice President Leni Robredo in a negative light started circulating online.

[19] The office also stated that the module in question did not undergo a proper review and that "more strict mechanisms" would be put in place as well.

[19][20] The Secretary of Education had also released a statement assuring the public that efforts will be made "to warn our officials and personnel, including teachers, against participating in partisan politics.

[21] In early August 2022 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was reported by the Commission on Audit (COA) That the Department of Education purchased approximately ₱2.4 billion worth of laptops for 39,583 public school teachers.