Cebu City Council seeks budget for daycare centers

CEBU, Philippines — The office of the Cebu City Mayor has been requested to allocate funds for supplemental materials and personnel to address the learning gaps among all daycare centers in the city in compliance with the mandate of a newly-signed law aimed to bridge such educational challenges.

This resolution stemmed from the privilege speech of Councilor Rey Gealon during the regular session last Wednesday.

In the same manner, the council also approved his other resolution, which is to direct the Management Information and Computer Services (MICS) to conduct an inventory of the city’s daycare centers with WIFI connectivity and make an action plan for those who have none.

According to Gealon, these resolutions hope to address one of the most pressing challenges the country faces in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes education gaps. He added this is to ensure that the children will receive the quality education “they deserve despite the unprecedented disruptions”.

Gealon then presented Republic Act No. 12028, also known as the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Law, signed into law on October 18, 2024.

“We all know that the pandemic severely disrupted the education system. Schools closed, face-to-face learning was halted, and millions of students had to adapt to distance learning,” he said.

“This sudden shift created a wide range of challenges—from unequal access to technology and the internet to the difficulties of remote learning for both students and teachers,” he added.

According to Gealon, many of the students, particularly those from underprivileged communities, “have fallen behind in their studies”.

He added that this “learning gap” is a crisis that cannot be ignored.

The newly signed ARAL Law, Gealon said, directly addresses this learning gap by providing remedial programs and targeted interventions for students who need the most help, especially those in public schools.

Aside from this, It also seeks to promote accessible, equitable, and inclusive education in various forms.

Among the key features of the ARAL Law is the Academic Recovery Program which mandates the creation of learning recovery programs specifically designed to help students catch up on missed lessons and to strengthen their skills in reading, writing, and mathematics.

The said programs include tutorial services that are delivered face-to-face, online, or blended. Gealon also said that the teachers, para-teachers or those who have taken the licensure exam but failed to qualify, and Pre-Service Teachers or students enrolled in a teacher education degree program, will be tapped as tutors.

Further, the ARAL Law also mandates that Accessible Learning Resources include expanding free learning materials and improving public access to technology for remote and blended learning.

It also has a Teacher Support and Training where teachers will receive enhanced training and professional development opportunities. Gealon said this will equip them with the skills and knowledge necessary to implement the new learning interventions.

“The local government is tasked to provide a learning environment for the face-to-face tutorials and to assist in the promotion of the program to potential tutors in higher education institutions, identification, and referral of potential tutors to DepEd,” said Gealon.

He also through the ARAL law, will ensure that every child has the opportunity to “learn, grow, and achieve their full potential”.  ATO (CEBU NEWS)