The Department of Education , is the executive department

Executive Departments of the Philippines

The Executive departments of the Philippines is the largest component of the national executive branch of the government of the Philippines. There are a total of nineteen executive departments. The departments comprise the largest part of the country's bureaucracy...

 of the Philippine government responsible for the management and governing of the Philippine system of basic education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

. It is the chief formulator of Philippine educational policy and is responsible for the Philippine primary and secondary school system. The Department of Education is also known by its old name, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (Filipino: Kagawaran ng Edukasyon, Kultura at Palakasan).
During the early Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 period, education in the Philippines was religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

-oriented and was primarily for the elite, especially in the first years of Spanish colonization.