SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian urged his colleagues at the Senate to pass his bill that will ensure the alignment of basic education curriculum and early childhood education to strengthen the learning continuum.

Senate Bill 2029 seeks to amend Republic Act 10410 or the Early Years Act of 2013 to address challenges to early education.

The senator is batting for more involvement of local government units in early education.

To ensure that children who enter Kindergarten have been taught the necessary learning competencies, the measure will align the Early Childhood Care and Development Curriculum with the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum.

RA 10410 provides the legal framework for ECCD, but Gatchalian cited problems such as the inequitable delivery of ECCD services and the dependence of the quality of service on the financial and budget framework, resources and political will of the local government unit.

“LGUs should be held more accountable, but at the same time, they should also be supported and capacitated to perform their mandate, especially the poorest municipalities,” the senator said.

Under the bill, LGUs will be mandated to provide facilities and augment resources for the implementation of ECCD programs. They shall also establish or convert existing daycare centers to child development
centers.

The measure also provides that there shall be at least one national CDC in every city or municipality.

Gatchalian said early education is crucial as he cited a study that showed that Grade 4 learners who were able to often perform early literacy and numeracy activities with their parents before primary school scored higher in mathematics and science compared to those who were not.

He added that equitable ECEd is also an effective strategy for promoting economic growth as it can narrow early achievement gaps for children from disadvantaged settings and teach fundamental skills needed for the workforce.