SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian said students and teachers are expected to feel the immediate benefits of the government’s proposed 2026 national budget, as the education sector is set to receive its biggest allocation to date.

Gatchalian said education will receive P1.3 trillion under the 2026 budget, equivalent to 4.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, fulfilling the government’s commitment to make next year’s spending plan an education budget.

The Department of Education (DepEd) will get nearly P1 trillion, the largest allocation among government agencies.

“The most immediate impact will be the hiring of more teachers,” Gatchalian said, adding that the budget also includes substantial funding for tutors to help students struggling with reading.

He noted that many Filipino children continue to face learning difficulties, particularly in basic reading skills.

Under the expanded Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program, tutors will be provided free of charge to qualified public school students.

“Parents will not have to pay for tutors,” Gatchalian clarified. “There is already a law—the ARAL law—which DepEd is now implementing. What they need are tutors, and that’s why we allocated funds for them.”

The tutoring program will focus on public school students assessed as having difficulty in reading. Support may be provided through one-on-one sessions or group tutorials, depending on school needs.

In addition to tutoring, Gatchalian said the school-based feeding program will be strengthened, citing data showing that nearly 25 percent of Filipino children are malnourished.

“These three programs—teacher hiring, tutoring, and feeding—are the ones people will feel the fastest,” he said.

The proposed budget also includes P22 billion for textbooks and more than P60 billion for classroom construction, which Gatchalian said would further improve learning conditions nationwide.

“These are the things our people will feel on the ground,” he added.