DepEd program for struggling students left with 2% of needed funds in House budget
MANILA, Philippines — A tutoring program that the Department of Education credits with cutting the number of struggling readers by two-thirds stands to lose nearly all its funding next year — one of several items Education Secretary Sonny Angara asked senators on Friday, October 16, to fill.
The Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program, which provides extra tutoring in reading, math and science, got no funding in the executive’s proposed 2027 budget, a complete wipeout of its P9 billion budget this year.
The House allocated P350 million after Angara raised the problem at its budget hearing in September, but that covers only about 2% of the P15.68 billion DepEd says it needs to run the program.
“I don’t understand bakit ginawang zero po ito. Pero ang [General Appropriations Bill] naman, naawa pa nang konti, nilagay ng 350 million, nagbibigay ng barya,” Sen. Erwin Tulfo said at the Senate finance committee's deliberations of DepEd proposed 2027 budget. (I don’t understand why this was zeroed out. The General Appropriations Bill took a little pity and put in P350 million, but that’s loose change.)
Carmela Oracion, DepEd's undersecretary for learning systems, told senators that ARAL brought the number of struggling readers in schools down from 6.7 million to 2.2 million in its first year. “It’s the main strategy by which we can improve the outcomes for our learners,” she said.
Under the program, one teacher tutors about 10 to 15 students on lessons they've yet to grasp outside regular class hours, though in practice the number of students who need extra lessons go far beyond that.
Vivien Labastilla, Department of Budget and Management director, explained that ARAL had no line item of its own in the National Expenditure Program submitted to Congress, as it was instead funded under the budget for textbooks and other instructional materials.
Pressed by Tulfo how exactly that would ensure tutors would be paid, Labastilla said they could receive overtime pay.
Of the P15.63 billion that DepEd is seeking for ARAL, at least P1.09 billion of this is meant to cover overload pay for teachers who conduct the tutoring, Angara said.
“If the ARAL tutor is a teacher, they will not be entitled to the additional compensation unless it’s an overload pay,” he explained, referring to work beyond the six hours required under the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers.
The largest items in the request are P6 billion for learning recovery and remediation consultations and P4.61 billion to print ARAL materials. DepEd is also asking for P1.75 billion to train its tutors, P1.25 billion for a summer program and P928.29 million to pay 73,674 tutors from outside the department.
The P350 million in the House version of the budget would only pay for 20,287 tutors, according to the DepEd presentation.
Senators want 4% of GDP for education
Beyond the ARAL program, Angara is also asking Senate for a larger cut of the pie for DepEd, which received P969.79 billion in the House-approved budget for 2027. That is P45.52 billion, or 4.48%, lower than this year’s DepEd budget.
DepEd is hoping that the Senate would increase its funding to P147.9 billion more, a "wish list" that spanned everything from the hiring of teachers, building of classrooms, school security, and feeding and mental health programs.
Angara, who previously served as Senate finance committee chair, admitted the request was “medyo suntok sa buwan (a bit of a long shot)."
Sen. Bam Aquino IV, who chairs the Senate basic education committee and presided over the hearing, said senators are generally in agreement that they need to bring the education budget back to 4% of gross domestic product (GDP).
“It’s our shared goal na mabalik natin ito to 4%. Of course, we know maraming competing interests po dito, but we will do our best (It's our shared goal to bring it back to 4%. Of course, we know there are many competing interests, but we will do our best),” Aquino assured Angara during the hearing.
“Magandang layunin iyung 4%, kasi iyon talaga ang benchmark, and it’s a minimum (It's a good goal to aim for 4%, because that is the benchmark, and it's a minimum),” Angara replied, noting that UNESCO recommends 4% to 6%.
The biggest slice on DepEd’s wish list, P52.11 billion, goes to personnel, including the hiring of 14,274 teachers and 14,126 school principals and laptops for 267,155 teachers and staff.
DepEd also wants P41.06 billion to build 2,385 classrooms, repair 3,500 others, and buy workbooks and security equipment. Another P35.92 billion is for learner support, including P16.82 billion to expand the school feeding program and P13.81 billion for mental health and guidance counseling.
Aquino earlier questioned the lower chamber's decision to cut P6.17 billion from the executive’s proposed DepEd budget of P975.96 billion before approving the spending bill on October 12.
The cuts included P3.1 billion from the Basic Education Facilities Fund, which pays for classrooms and school facilities, and more than P3 billion from the computerization program, which fell from P5.79 billion to P2.63 billion.
He also flagged that funding for the feeding program would fall from P25.7 billion this year to P11.43 billion.
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