EDUCATION Secretary Sonny Angara cited the Philippines’ gains in the 2025 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) as his department sought 2027 funding for the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program.
ARAL has zero funding under the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP). The proposed national budget, however, could still be amended as the House of Representatives deliberates on it.
“These latest PISA gains are an encouraging checkpoint, not the finish line. They prove that system-wide progress is possible, but they also highlight why sustained funding and structured interventions like ARAL remain non-negotiable,” Angara said.
The Department of Education (DepEd) was requesting supplemental funding of P16.03 billion for the ARAL Program.
It said the amount would be utilized for remediation consultations, learning resources, training and compensation of tutors, as well as teaching overload honoraria.
The DepEd said that in School Year 2025 to 2026, ARAL provided targeted support for struggling learners, helping reduce the number of struggling readers to 2.2 million from 6.7 million, while boosting grade-level reading readiness to 5.8 million from 3.3 million learners.
“DepEd is also reinforcing stronger foundational learning through complementary literacy initiatives. These include distributing storybooks to Kindergarten to Grade 3 learners, setting up Reading Nooks in schools, and strengthening the nationwide Bayang Bumabasa Initiative through tailored early-grade reading and literacy improvement plans,” it added.
Angara stressed that building stronger foundational learning in reading is critical, as it serves as the bedrock for learners to comprehend and excel in all other academic subjects.
The Philippines’ PISA scores showed noticeable improvement in 2025 compared to its performance in 2022.
Angara said on Tuesday that the country’s average PISA score in Science increased by 17 points to 373 from 356 in 2022.
He said that in Reading, the score improved by 16 points to 371 from 355.
He said the highest increase was in Math — a 20-point rise to 367 from 347.
The country ranked 77 of 91 in Science, 74 of 90 in Mathematics, and 72 of 90 in Reading for 2025, meaning it was not in the bottom 10 in all three.
In 2022, the country ranked 79 of 81 in Science and 76 of 81 in both Mathematics and Reading. Its ranking in 2018 was 78 of 79 in Science and in Mathematics and 79 of 79 in Reading.
The DepEd said that alongside academic recovery, it is prioritizing learner welfare by utilizing its P11.4 billion allocation under the 2027 NEP.
The School-Based Feeding Program, it said, covers over 3.6 million learners, including all Kindergarten and Grade 1 learners as well as wasted and severely wasted learners from Grade 2 onwards.
“The determination of the Filipino child is undeniable. Our job in government is to match that drive with real resources,” Angara said.
