SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday underscored the significant increases made to the education sector in the Senate-approved version of the 2025 national budget, calling it a decisive investment in the country’s future.

“Let us begin with Education – the sector to which we have allocated the largest share of funds for next year,” Gatchalian said in his speech following the approval of House Bill 4058 or the General Appropriations Bill.

According to the senator, the education budget remains at 4.5% of the country’s GDP and now stands at ₱1.37 trillion—an increase of ₱91.24 billion from the amount approved by the House of Representatives.

He highlighted four key improvements introduced by the Senate.

Gatchalian said the Senate raised funding for classroom construction to ₱65.9 billion, which is ₱19.2 billion higher than the House version. The additional funding will enable the construction of more than 24,000 new classrooms to address persistent shortages nationwide.

The senator also cited the enhanced budget for the Department of Education’s School-Based Feeding Program, now at ₱28.6 billion. This will support feeding for 200 school days and benefit 4.8 million learners.

Of the total amount, ₱2.9 billion has been transferred to the Philippine Carabao Center and the National Dairy Authority for the program’s Milk Feeding Component. Gatchalian said the move serves a dual purpose: ensuring proper nutrition for malnourished learners and supporting local dairy farmers, in line with Section 14 of the Animal Industry Development and Competitiveness Act, which mandates sourcing milk for government nutrition programs from local producers.

The senator also raised concerns that at least 168,000 qualified students were unable to enroll in State Universities and Colleges due to limited carrying capacity. To address this, the Senate increased the SUC budget to ₱139.04 billion—₱7.35 billion more than the House proposal.

“This should not be happening to our youth, especially in universities funded by the people,” he stressed.

Finally, Gatchalian reported the allocation of ₱1 billion to the Local Government Support Fund to assist 4th- and 5th-class municipalities. The funds will support the conversion of more than 3,000 Day Care Centers into Child Development Centers and the creation of at least 150 plantilla positions for Child Development Workers.