THE Senate has ratified the reconciled version of a bill overhauling the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (Gastpe) Act, expanding government support for private basic education and creating a targeted voucher system from Kindergarten to Grade 12.
The measure, a Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) priority, was principally authored by Senators Bam Aquino, Joel Villanueva, Sherwin Gatchalian and Loren Legarda.
The reform seeks to address persistent overcrowding in public schools. Department of Education data showed a classroom backlog of 147,347 as of September 2025, while 1,889 schools had double or triple shifts in school year 2024-2025, requiring an estimated 52,871 additional classrooms to eliminate shifting.
Under the expanded program, qualified learners from Kindergarten to Grade 6 may receive Basic Education Voucher Assistance to enroll in participating private schools.
The program is projected to accommodate about 22.5 percent, or 121,035, of learners identified as being in congested schools.
The measure also requires the DepEd to establish a public dashboard listing participating private schools, their locations, available slots, tuition fees, and possible additional payments when voucher amounts fall short of tuition.
It also institutionalizes a nationwide school congestion mapping and strategic allocation framework to guide voucher distribution and ensure the program complements, rather than duplicates, government efforts to build classrooms.
The bill further creates a Bureau of Private Education within the DepEd to oversee government assistance programs for private basic education institutions.
Gatchalian said the expanded voucher system would give low- and middle-income families more schooling options while easing pressure on overcrowded public schools.
“By expanding the voucher system, we can address the classroom shortage and overcrowding in public schools while ensuring the delivery of quality education for our students,” the senator said.
Aquino said the measure would allow families to access private-school capacity when public schools have insufficient space.
“No child should have to study in overcrowded classrooms simply because there is no available space in the public school nearest to them,” Aquino said.
Following ratification of the bicameral conference committee report, the reconciled bill will be transmitted to Malacañang for the president’s action.
