Manila: The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday renewed its call for lawmakers to allocate funds for the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program anew to sustain recent gains in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The Philippines hit its strongest performance since it joined PISA in 2018, emerging as the fastest-improving education system in reading in the world under the 2025 PISA.
According to Philippines News Agency, Education Secretary Sonny Angara emphasized the importance of these achievements, stating, "These latest PISA gains are an encouraging checkpoint, not the finish line. They prove that system-wide progress is possible, but they also highlight why sustained funding and structured interventions like ARAL remain non-negotiable." The ARAL program's remediation efforts have been pivotal in the learning recovery progress and performance improvement under PISA.
Under the ARAL program, the number of struggling readers has dramatically dropped from 6.7 million to 2.2 million nationwide during the School Year 2025-2026. Additionally, grade-level readiness has increased significantly, with 5.8 million learners now prepared compared to 3.3 million previously.
To maintain these improvements, DepEd has requested a PHP16.03 billion supplemental funding for Learning Recovery, with a significant portion allocated to the ARAL Program. This funding is intended to cover expenses for remediation consultations, learning resources, training of DepEd tutors, the ARAL Summer Program, external tutors' compensation, and teaching overload honoraria. However, as it stands, the ARAL program has zero allocation under the proposed 2027 National Expenditure Program.
Beyond the ARAL program, DepEd is also advocating for a budget boost to support 3.69 million learners, including all Kindergarten, Grade 1, and all wasted and severely wasted learners from Grade 2 onwards, under the School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP). This initiative aims to prevent school violence incidents by enhancing school safety efforts in all public schools nationwide.
