Zero funding for DepEd’s Aral Program under 2027 NEP

MANILA, Philippines — There is no funding under the National Expenditures Program (NEP) in 2027 for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) official remedial program meant to address students’ skills gap, Education Secretary Sonny Angara told the House of Representatives on Monday. During the hearing of the House committee on appropriations on DepEd’s proposed budget for 2027, Bulacan Rep. Salvador Pleyto asked Angara about Republic Act No. 12028 or the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program Act — an intervention program which seeks to assist students having problems with reading, mathematics, and science. In response, Angara there were no funds allocated to the ARAL Program for 2027. Article continues after this advertisement “I believe, Mr. Secretary, this is one of the most important investments we can make in our children, sa ating mga kabataang mag-aaral […] Kaya po para sa akin marapat lamang na i-accelerate natin ang implementasyon ng ARAL program, ang magandang programa ay dapat lamang na bigyan ng kaukulang pondo para magawa ito,” Pleyto said. (I believe, Mr. Secretary, this is one of the most important investments for our children, to our youth studying […] That’s why for me it is only right that we accelerate the implementation of the ARAL Program, a good program should be given the appropriate funding for its implementation,” Pleyto said. “May we know the exact amount appropriated for all, for this ARAL program in the 2027 NEP? Under what specific program, activity, and project or unified accounts code structure line item can we find it?” he asked. “Regarding the ARAL Program, there’s a zero allotment for this under the 2027 budget, unlike this year where there was an allotment of around P9 billion for the ARAL, the different aspects of the ARAL,” Angara replied. According to Angara, they proposed nearly P16 billion for the ARAL Program to sustain the gains of the previous year — noting that out of the 6.7 million students who were admitted to the program, 4.5 million are no longer struggling readers. Article continues after this advertisement “Maganda naman ho ang resulta no’ng ating programa because do’n sa 6.7 million na pumasok po sa ARAL program, we saw at the end of the school year, merong 4.5 million fewer struggling readers at saka may 2.5 million do’n sa 6.7 million na umangat po sa grade level reading. So they’re reading, now reading at the right level. So these are a few of the achievements,” Angara said. (Our program yielded good results, because of the 6.7 million students who went into the ARAL program, we saw at the end of the school year, there are 4.5 million fewer struggling readers and 2.5 million students of the 6.7 million whose grade level reading increased. So they’re reading, now reading at the right level. So these are a few of the achievements,” Angara said. Article continues after this advertisement “At sa mga naikutan kong mga eskwelahan, ‘yon din ang kine-kwento ho ng mga teachers at saka principals na effective po yung ARAL program. So again, nagpapasalamat ho tayo sa Kongreso sa magandang batas na ito at hopefully mapagbigyan dito sa mga request your Honor,” he added. (And in the areas we have moved around, that is the kind of stories we get from teachers and principals, that the ARAL program is effective. So again, we thank Congress for this good law and hopefully our requests for funding will be approved, your Honor.) Pleyto then manifested that the House restore DepEd’s budget for the ARAL Program, saying that it allows students to catch-up and learn better. “Madam Chair, Secretary, may I manifest my support to allocate the appropriate funding needed by DepEd to successfully implement the ARAL Program. This should be our priority to help our Filipino children to catch-up, learn better, and regain their confidence in their own abilities to succeed,” Pleyto noted. ARAL Program has been touted as a means to provide learning interventions during the academic year break to address skill gaps. Currently, however, ARAL Program has been focused on addressing reading comprehension issues, as the the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2) expressed concerns over the fact that 87 percent of Grade 11 students are non-independent readers. During a hearing of the House committee on basic education last May 28, a presentation from Edcom 2 revealed that almost 9 of 10 Grade 11 students from public schools find it difficult to explain something they had just read. During the same hearing, Edcom 2 chief legal officer Atty. Simoun Salinas said that the ARAL Program has not yet fully addressed the skills gap because there is a lack of policy to hire external tutors and students have not been attending. READ: DepEd urged to focus on students’ reading comprehension As early as April 2025, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) presented data showing that a total of 18.96 million Filipino students who graduated from junior and senior high school in 2024 are considered functionally illiterate — as they can only read but have difficulty understanding what they read. READ: 18.9M Filipino graduates in 2024 found to be functionally illiterate Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Your subscription has been successful. In May 2025, Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo who heads the House committee on basic education said that Edcom 2 data showed that nearly 2 million Filipino students still have problems in the reading comprehension requirements of their grade level. /gsg