The Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday said it seeks to expand the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program to benefit 6.7 million learners in public schools nationwide after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed the 2026 General Appropriations Act, which grants a PHP8.93 billion allocation for the measure.

In a statement, DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara said it is the first time ARAL will be fully funded.

“Dito po sa ARAL Program, unprecedented din po iyong spending. Ito iyong para humabol tayo dahil lumalabas na nahuli na ang ating mga bata sa (In the ARAL program, we have an unprecedented spending. It’s necessary to allow our kids to catch-up in) reading and math,” he said.

The DepEd aims to tap 440,000 tutors – including DepEd and non-DepEd personnel – for School Year 2026 to 2027 to strengthen learning recovery efforts for struggling students and ease the workloads and classroom pressures of public school teachers.

Moreover, the ARAL fund will also cover training to support tutors in aligning with literacy standards, as well as in the procurement of improved learning materials.

The learner tracking mechanism will also be enhanced through the Learner Information System as part of the DepEd’s intensified monitoring and evaluation systems.

The DepEd said these efforts show the government’s shift from short-term recovery activities into permanent remediation efforts to address learning gaps in reading and mathematics in basic education.

As of Monday, the agency reported that 3.42 million Grades 3 to 6 learners and 1.72 million Grades 7 to 10 learners have already moved closer to their grade-level proficiency, according to the DepEd’s Middle of School Year (MoSY) assessments.

Reading readiness has improved by an average of five points among struggling learners in Grades 3 to 6, while learners from Grades 7 to 10 recorded gains of six to nine points.

In 2025, the DepEd’s ARAL program catered to about 3 million learners in the country. (PNA)