Senate OKs DepEd's 2027 budget; P147.93B more asked for ARAL

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The Senate Finance Committee approved Friday the proposed budget of the Department of Education (DepEd) for fiscal year 2027, subject to the discussion and submission of requested documents.

In the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), the agency and its attached agencies were allocated P969.79 billion. This is a P6.17 billion decrease from the 2027 National Expenditures Program (NEP).

Of the total allocated budget under GAB, P967.23 billion is earmarked for DepEd, with around P2.561 billion for its attached agencies.

These agencies are the National Council for Children’s Television, National Museum of the Philippines, National Academy of Sports, National Book Development Board, Philippine High School for the Arts, and the Teacher Education Council.

During the Senate budget hearing, DepEd requested an additional P147.93 billion allocation to fund its various initiatives, including the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program that received zero funding under the NEP.

The ARAL Program is a remediation initiative designed to support the agency's broader Learning Recovery efforts. DepEd requested P15.63 billion for the program.

“It’s delivering what it intends to deliver, which is to teach our children how to read, how to count. But this year na-zero yung budget ng ARAL, which is shocking. Kung ano pa yung gumagawa, ‘yun pa yung nawala,” Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said.

(It’s delivering what it intends to deliver, which is to teach our children how to read and count. But this year, the budget for ARAL was reduced to zero, which is shocking. The very program that works is the one that got cut.)

Senator Joel Villanueva likewise expressed concern, emphasizing that many students still urgently need learning remediation.

“When I found out that it was zero, the first word that came out in my mind was ‘stupid.’ Stupid talaga. I really can't comprehend bakit ginawa yon. Tapos ngayon dinagdagan P325 million [and] you're looking at P13 million needing remediation,” Villauneva said.

(When I found out that it was zero, the first word that came to mind was ‘stupid.’ It really is stupid. I honestly can't comprehend why that was done. Now they added P325 million, but you're looking at 13 million students needing remediation.)

For its part, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) stated that it is aware of the ARAL Program.

The DBM explained that the program does have funding, but it was attributed to the budget for textbooks and instructional materials rather than given a standalone allocation.

“We are knowledgeable about the ARAL Program… so ‘yung sa funding po wala siyang line program, sariling line item po… pero may pondo po siya under textbook and other instructional materials, so attribution po siya,” DBM Director Vivien Labastilla explained.

(We are aware of the ARAL Program... regarding the funding, it doesn't have its own line item, but it has funds under textbooks and other instructional materials through attribution.)

The panel proposed creating a separate line item for the ARAL Program in the budget to ensure transparency and eliminate the need for the agency to carve out funds from other line items.

According to Gatchalian, the Year 1 report of the ARAL Program shows that 1.37 million learners from Grades 1 to 10 are no longer classified as struggling learners.

In addition, an estimated 730,000 more learners are now able to read at their respective grade levels. —RF, GMA News