SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian believes that there should be separate line items for the budgets of the Alternative Learning System and Special Education.

Gatchalian noticed that while the Department of Education proposed a P532 million budget for SPED, the program is unfunded under the proposed 2023 National Expenditure Program.

Funding for ALS, on the other hand, was lodged under flexible learning options.

Considering the impact of the Covid19 pandemic and school closures on ALS learners and learners with disabilities, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education emphasized the need to support ALS learners and learners with disabilities.

Based on DepEd data, as of March 14, 2022, there were 126,598 learners with disabilities enrolled for School Year 2021-2022, 65 percent lower than the 360,879 recorded for SY 2019-2020.

For SY 2021-2022, there were 472,869 learners enrolled in ALS, 38% lower compared to pre-pandemic levels.

“Hopefully, we can allocate an additional budget for SPED, I think that is an item that we can improve on. We can also improve on the allocation for ALS. Traditionally we are encouraging the Department to create a separate line item for that so that ALS will have its own line item to spend,” Gatchalian said.

In the 18th Congress, Gatchalian authored and sponsored Republic Act 11510 or the ALS Act which institutionalizes, strengthens, and expands the ALS program to provide increased opportunities for out-of-school children in special cases and adult learners, including indigenous peoples.

He also co-authored and sponsored Republic Act 11650, entitled Instituting a Policy of Inclusion and Services for Learners with Disabilities in Support of Inclusive Education Act, which mandates all public and private schools to ensure equitable access to quality education to learners with disability.