SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian was alarmed by reports that only 9 percent of children aged 2 to 4 were enrolled in national child development centers and child development centers for school year 2022-2023.

Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Early Childhood Care and Development Council, Gatchalian said that only 608,614 of 6,835,586 children aged 2 to 4 were enrolled in NCDCs and CDCs. This falls far short of the goal of achieving universal ECCD coverage.

A report of UNICEF said that learners who received early childhood education had better average scores in Literacy by Grade 4 compared to those who did not.

Those who received early childhood education also had better average scores in Mathematics compared to those who did not.

State think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies in May said the low pre-kindergarten participation is partly attributed to parents’ perception that children aged 4 to 5 years old are too young to go to school.

This perception was reflected in the Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey 2019, where 98 percent of parents believed that children in this age bracket are too young to attend school.

The PIDS also noted the unequal distribution of the country’s 56,400 daycare centers.

In 2022, the DSWD reported that around 14 percent of local government units, particularly low-income municipalities, have yet to establish their centers.

Gatchalian’s Basic Education and Early Childhood Education Alignment Act seeks to align the ECCD curriculum and the K to 12 basic education curriculum.

It also mandates greater responsibilities on local government units for the implementation of ECCD programs to include, among others, the achievement of universal coverage for the ECCD system and the augmentation of funds and resources.

“There are also a lot of structural issues that we need to identify and correct. Without strengthening and clearing this structure in place, it is very difficult to roll out a national program that is being implemented by a local government unit. We have about 1,500 local government units, and it is very difficult for them to evenly implement a national program if the structure is not in place,” the lawmaker said.