The Department of Education (abbreviated as DepEd; ) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for ensuring access to, promoting equity in, and improving the quality of basic education. It is the main agency tasked to manage and govern the Philippine system of basic education. It is the chief formulator of Philippine education policy and responsible for the Philippine primary and secondary school systems. It has its headquarters at the DepEd Complex in Meralco Avenue, Pasig. The department is currently led by the secretary of education, nominated by the president of the Philippines and confirmed by the Commission on Appointments. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet. The current secretary of education is Sara Duterte. 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. It has changed its vision statement, removing a phrase that some groups deem to be "too sectarian" for a government institution. History Philippine Education has undergone different stages of progress from the pre-Spanish era to the present. During the early Spanish period, education in the Philippines was religion-oriented and was primarily for the elite, especially in the first years of Spanish colonization. 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. Primary instruction was secularized and free, and the teaching of Spanish was compulsory. It was also through this decree that the 'Superior Commission of Primary Instruction' was established, the seminal agency of the Department of Education. The defeat of Spain by United States forces in 1898 paved the way for Aguinaldo's Republic under a Revolutionary Government. 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 system of free and compulsory elementary education was established by the Malolos Constitution, under Article 23. However, this first sovereign education system was interrupted in 1899 with the start of the Philippine–American War, and was finally dismantled. A secularized and free public school system during the first decade of American rule