BICOL Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan is pushing for a bill aiming to future-proof learning materials in the basic education system and resolve the longstanding problem of inadequate textbooks for students in public schools.

Yamsuan said the key to achieving the twin goals is by strengthening the partnership between the Department of Education and the National Book Development Board, which shall be jointly tasked to formulate and implement a National Textbook and Learning Resources Plan.

The lawmaker said he filed House Bill 10734 after the Second Congressional Commission on Education or Edcom II found that students in public elementary and high schools have struggled to learn for about a decade with incomplete or no textbooks at all.

“Ang ating bill ay sagot sa matagal ng problema ng ating mga public school learners na hirap sa pag-aaral dahil kulang o wala man lang silang magamit na textbooks. Malaking kawalan ito sa kanilang abilidad na makapag-aral ng maayos lalo na sa mga subjects na Math, Science at Reading, kung saan nakitaan ng mababang test scores and mga mag-aaral na Pilipino,” Yamsuan said.

He was referring to the 2022 findings of the Program for International Student Assessment, which showed Filipino students still among the weakest in the subjects of Math, Reading and Science and even in creative thinking skills among learners from 81 countries that took part in the global study.

Another study — the Southeast Asian Primary Learning Metrics found that learners who shared the use of textbooks and those who did not have these learning materials scored significantly lower than those who had their own textbooks.

Yamsuan pointed out that despite having the budget available to buy textbooks, the DepEd was able to procure only 27 types of textbooks for Grades 1 to 10 since 2012.

Moreover, since the K to 12 curriculum was introduced, only textbooks for Grades 5 to 6 have been procured.

The delays have been traced to various factors such as the insufficient period given to the DepEd to develop textbooks; prolonged review processes; high participation costs for bidders; and pricing issues, according to the Edcom II findings.

Yamsuan said these problems can be resolved by amending the provisions of the NBDB Charter under Republic Act 8047.

His proposed measure – HB 10734 —gives the NBDB a more active role in the preparation and production of textbooks, by mandating the DepEd to jointly work with it in preparing the specific policies, guidelines and measures on the provision of public school textbooks and learning resources.

HB 10734 also requires the DepEd to phase out its elementary and secondary textbook publication and distribution functions within a three-year period and support the phasing in of private sector publishers to assume these tasks, Yamsuan said.

“As our world becomes increasingly digital, aligning the definition of books to cover electronic forms reflects the way Filipinos consume information today. Ang bagong kahulugang ng salitang ‘book’ o aklat na ngayon ay kasama na ang mga e-books at iba pang katulad nito ay magtitiyak na laging nakasabay ang mga estudyanteng Pilipino sa mabilis na pagbabago ng teknolohiya,” Yamsuan said.