SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday pushed a remedial program to address learning losses because of prolonged school closures.

Gatchalian pitched anew his proposed learning recovery program called the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning or ARAL Program, which is outlined in Senate Bill 2355.

The ARAL program will include well-systematized tutorial sessions and targets those who did not enroll last school year, those who are lagging academically, and those who are at marginally above the minimum level of mastery required in Language, Mathematics, and Science.

“Habang unti-unti nating binubuksan ang mga paaralan, kailangang samahan natin ito ng tutorial sessions para sa mga mag-aaral. Dapat nating tiyaking makakahabol sila sa kanilang pag-aaral at maiwasan ang pag-urong ng kanilang kaalaman,” the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture said.

The ARAL Program shall cover the most essential learning competencies under Language and Mathematics for Grades 1 to 10, and Science for Grades 3 to 10.

The program will prioritize Reading, which is included in the most essential learning competencies under Language. For Kindergarten learners, literacy and numeracy competencies will be strengthened.

The World Bank’s simulation analysis of learning losses estimates that Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling will go down from 7.5 years to 5.7 to 6.1 years, an equivalent of 1.4 to 1.7 years.

This means that for 12 years of basic education, the quality of learning will only be equivalent to an effective 5.7 to 6.1 years of schooling.

The National Economic and Development Authority earlier estimated that for one school year without face-to-face classes, the economy will lose P11 trillion in the next 40 years.