Google Philippines said it aims to upskill over a million public school teachers nationwide in artificial intelligence (AI) as the technology continues to transform classroom routines and behaviors.
“When government, educators, and technology share the same purpose, meaningful transformation at scale becomes possible,” Google Philippines Country Manager Prep Palacios said in her speech on Tuesday.
“That shared purpose is exactly what underpins our ongoing collaboration with the Department of Education (DepEd) – our commitment to upskill over 1 million public school teachers nationwide,” she added.
Data from the 2025 Digital Education Council survey found that 86% of teachers want to integrate technology into their teaching; however, only 17% are trained to do so with confidence.
“We see the reality on the ground and the immense expectations placed on our teachers,” she said. “That gap is exactly why we’re continuing to invest heavily in local relevant training and support.”
“We believe that educators should not merely be in the loop. They need to be in the lead,” she added.
Compared with 83% of Filipino students who have used generative AI models for educational purposes, only 73% of teachers use the technology for teaching, according to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foundation.
The report also found that only 42% of educators use AI for their own writing tasks, well below the region’s 75% adoption rate among students.
Through the Google AI Educator Series (GES), teachers can access short online modules on practical AI skills, prompt engineering, data privacy and academic integrity guidelines.
Teachers can earn digital badges after completing the 15- to 45-minute self-paced courses.
“This journey has never been just about mastering prompts or automating administrative tasks,” the Google official said.
“It’s about building that long-term confidence and equipping our educators across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao with practical tools to lead modern classrooms,” she added.
GES is currently live on DepEd’s Bureau of Learning Delivery (BLD) Hub and will be endorsed nationwide through an upcoming Joint Circular. It is working with the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) on accreditations to award Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credit units required for Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) license renewal.
The program is likewise available for teachers and faculty members in the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). — Almira Louise S. Martinez