Following the release of the EDCOM II final report, which contains the National Education and Workforce Development Plan for the next ten years, Senator Win Gatchalian pressed the need to efficiently spend the country’s historic 2026 education budget.

The P1.35 trillion budget for the education sector, the equivalent of 4.4% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, includes key investments in learning recovery and early childhood care and development (ECCD), Gatchalian emphasized. The Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program, for instance, has an allocation of P8.96 billion to deploy 440,000 tutors and support 6.7 million learners.

Investments in ECCD include ₱2.56 billion from the Local Government Support Fund, which will support the conversion of day care centers in fourth- and fifth-class municipalities into child development centers. The allocation will also fund the hiring of child development workers in these low-income municipalities.

“Naglaan tayo ng makasaysayang pondo para sa edukasyon para tapusin ang krisis sa sektor. Pero hindi sapat ang basta pondo lang. Kailangan itong gamitin nang tama para mabigyan ang ating mga kabataan ng tunay na pagkakataong magtagumpay sa loob at labas ng paaralan,” said Gatchalian, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance.