DepEd allocates P9 billion for basic tutorial program

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) will allocate P9 billion for the implementation of the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program in all public basic education institutions this year, according to Education Secretary Sonny Angara.

Launched last September, the ARAL Program provides Kindergarten to Grade 10 learners free tutorials in reading, mathematics and science to help them attain the competencies expected at their grade level.

“For the first time, we were given P9 billion so all our schools now have tutors under the ARAL Program,” Angara said at a recent press briefing at Malacañang.

“This is for us to catch up because it shows that our children are lagging behind in reading and math,” the DepEd secretary said.

The program aims to build stronger foundational skills in basic education as this is the most critical stage in every child’s development, he stressed.

DepEd received a P1.015-trillion budget under the P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026, about 30 percent higher than the agency’s budget last year.

For the first time, the country also met the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO’s global benchmark for education spending, which recommends that countries allocate at least four to six percent of the gross domestic product to education.

The Philippines ranked 76th out of 81 countries in reading comprehension, mathematics and science, based on the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment or PISA results released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in December 2023.