Nearly P9 billion under the proposed 2026 national budget will be used to expand the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program to speed up learning recovery, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said.

Citing the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Middle of School Year Assessments, Gatchalian said Grade 3 to 6 learners improved their reading readiness by an average of five points, while Grades 7 to 10 learners posted gains of six to nine points.

He said these improvements cover about 3.42 million learners in Grades 3 to 6 and 1.72 million learners in Grades 7 to 10, bringing more students closer to grade-level reading proficiency.

“Part of the historic funding we have allocated to the education sector this year is full support for the implementation of the ARAL Program),” Gatchalian said in a news release on Sunday.

Gatchalian, sponsor of the Academic Recovery and Learning (ARAL) Program Act, said the P9 billion allocation “is an important step to help us curb the education crisis we have been facing for a long time.”

Under the 2026 national budget, P8.96 billion is allocated for the ARAL Program, which aims to engage 440,000 tutors and reach 6.7 million learners in School Year 2026–2027.