Press Release - EDCOM 2: DepEd commits to submit plan for learning recovery in 2 weeks

During the House of Representatives' Committee on Basic Education and Culture deliberation held on July 29, 2024, regarding House Resolution No. 1805 on suspending the regular academic program for 8 to 12 weeks to implement an effective learning recovery program, the Department of Education (DepEd) says it welcomes the proposed resolution which targets to improve the literacy and numeracy competencies of K to 12 learners.

"We [at DepEd] welcome the resolution, your Honor. We spoke about this with the Secretary and the ExeCom. The whole DepEd is open to working with you [Congress] and EDCOM on thinking about how to operationalize this resolution," says DepEd Undersecretary Gina Ginoong.

House Resolution No. 1805, filed by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) Commissioners Rep Roman Romulo and Rep Jose Francisco "Kiko" Benitez intends to suspend the regular school schedule for 8-12 weeks to allow the uninterrupted and focused implementation of the learning recovery program, after sufficient preparations by the DepEd.

"We all know that we have taken the 2018 and 2022 PISA, we took the SEAP PLM exam, the TIMSS exam. All the results show that we need interventions for reading comprehension and math age appropriate. Meaning that our learners are not faring well in any of these international assessment exams," says Rep Romulo.

According to EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee, the National Learning Recovery Program as designed may not be sufficient to meet the needs of the learners. "We have seen challenges as to the implementation of the components of the National Learning Recovery Program (NLRP). For example, in our visit to the learning camps, we found Grade 8 students still struggling with subtraction at the end of the camp. Today as they enter Grade 9, they will be studying quadratic equations and rational algebraic equations for 1st Quarter alone. How are they supposed to catch up on foundational skills, and even more so, in terms of grade-level competencies?" asked ED Yee.

EDCOM also noted that DepEd has not yet issued policies on the implementation of other components of the NLRP such as the National Mathematics Program and National