Bam Aquino Sets Education Crisis as National Agenda; Senators Commit to Support Reforms

Senator Bam Aquino on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, emphasized the need for a “whole-of-nation” approach to address the country’s education crisis, as he outlined a comprehensive seven-point agenda aimed at uplifting the quality of Philippine education.

In his first privilege speech as chairperson of the Committee on Basic Education, Sen. Bam stressed that close coordination among key government agencies, the private sector, and advocacy groups is essential to effectively address the education crisis.

“Ipaglaban po natin ang karapatan ng kabataang Pilipino na magkaroon ng kalidad na edukasyon. Ito ang agenda ng ating komite. Para matugunan ang krisis sa edukasyon, pagsasama-sama, pagkilos, at pagtutulungan ang kailangan ng lahat ng may kinalaman: pribadong sektor, advocacy groups, estudyante at guro mismo, at ang iba’t ibang sangay ng ating gobyerno,” he said.

“Kasama si Secretary Angara, ang kabuuan ng Department of Education, at ang 10-year basic education roadmap bilang gabay, mas matututukan ang kinakailangang reporma,” he added.

Drawing from consultations with key stakeholders and the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) Year 2 report, Sen. Bam identified the key issues that need urgent attention—nutrition, classrooms, textbooks, connectivity, teacher support, the learning gap, and employability. 

To provide Filipino students with the adequate nutrition they need, Sen. Bam called for the passage of priority legislation from DepEd that amends Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act (RA 11037), which he co-authored and sponsored in the 17th Congress to strengthen its implementation and provide universal feeding for Kinder to Grade 3 and targeted feeding for Grades 4-6. 

As part of efforts to address the shortage of 165,000 classrooms across the country, Sen. Bam recently filed the Adopt-A-School Act of 2025 and Classroom-Building Acceleration Program (CAP) Act, which will provide supplementary support to government initiatives once passed.

“We will exercise our legislative oversight into investigating the gap between the costs for building classrooms. Through our consultations, nalaman po namin na may mga NGO na gumagastos lang ng maliit sa 1 million pesos para makagawa ng classroom, pero bakit sa gobyerno more than double ang presyo ng classroom sa ating bansa, umaabot po ng 2.5 million pesos pataas. Ang tanong, bakit mas mataas ang halaga ng classrooms na gawa ng gobyerno kaysa ng pribadong sektor? At mahalagang malaman natin ang sagot sa tanong na ito para makapagpagawa tayo ng classroom para sa ating mga estudyante,” he said.

To aid students and teachers with online resources and multimodal learning, Sen. Bam pledged to work closely with the Department of Information and Communications Technology to ensure the full implementation of the Free Internet Access in Public Spaces Act, which he sponsored.

“I recently met with Secretary (Henry) Aguda who committed to the full implementation of the law by the end of 2025. During last Monday’s SONA, inulit ito ng presidente na priority na ma-connect ang public schools sa internet. Our students and teachers deserve every possible method to access learning materials and should not be burdened by additional costs to access the internet,” he said.

As a solution to the lack of textbooks hounding public schools, Aquino has filed the E-Textbook Para sa Lahat Act, which will require the digital availability of all DepEd-approved textbooks for basic education on official platforms or other authorized channels, for free. 

“Our students should be able to access the textbooks they need on time, whether in print or over the internet,” Sen. Bam stressed.

The Senator also committed to address the plight of overworked and underpaid teachers through his Angat Sweldo Para sa Guro Act, which will provide an additional ?10,000 monthly compensation to public school teachers and qualified non-teaching personnel.

He also pledged to work closely with DepEd in addressing the lack of administrative support for teachers and pass needed amendments to the Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act to provide alternative pathways to teacher licensure and ensure greater transparency and quality in the licensure process. 

Alarmed by reports of two-year learning gaps among Filipino students, Sen. Bam vowed closer coordination with the Department of Education on the proper implementation of the K-12 system and strengthening the National Learning Recovery Program. 

“We will continue to hold consultations with teachers, education advocacy groups, and local governments to find the quickest, most effective, and most sustainable solution so that our students can catch up,” he said.

To boost employability among Senior High School graduates, Sen. Bam submitted the School-to-Employment Program (STEP) Act, which empowers schools to make adjustments to the curriculum and revise their course offerings to be more responsive to labor market information and demands.

He also challenged the Senate, the Department of Budget and Management, and the House of Representatives to increase the budget for education to 4% of the nation’s GDP, as recommended by the United Nations and other international bodies.

“Alam ko po, palapit at palapit na tayo sa numerong ito, baka po for 2026 malampasan natin ang 4 % of GDP at mabigay natin ang nararapat na pondo para sa edukasyon,” he said.

Sen. Bam’s 7-point agenda earned the support of fellow lawmakers, who also expressed their willingness to collaborate on vital reforms aimed at improving the quality of education.

“I want to manifest my full support to the privilege speech of Senator Bam Aquino and I’m very happy  that there’s another education champion joining the halls of the Senate,” said Senator Win Gatchalian, the former chairperson of the Committee on Basic Education.

“Obviously binasa ni Senator Bam all 800 pages to come up with very targeted recommendations on how to address our education crisis that we are experiencing in our country. So I’m very happy to hear that he is ready to address all of these issues, and we fully support him in his quest to give our students, our learners, the best education possible,” he added.

“I would like to associate myself with the privilege speech of Senator Bam Aquino. It is very timely as another school year begins, and once again, we deal with the problems of our public education system,” said Sen. Raffy Tulfo, who also expressed concern about bullying incidents in schools and hunger among students. 

Senator Kiko Pangilinan, for his part, also raised the issue of feeding programs in schools, underscoring the need to expand them through his proposed Libreng Almusal bill.

“We would like to seek support of the chairman of the education committee so we can jointly hear the Libreng Almusal bill and at the same time marshal it on plenary should the report be made available,” Sen. Kiko said.

“Kahapon po, napakaganda po ng usapan naman ni Senator Bam patungkol po sa kalagayan ng edukasyon sa ating inang bayang Pilipinas at napakaganda ng pinuntahan ng aming usapan na sana ay magkaroon din tayo ng mga hakbangin patungo naman doon sa ating kabataan na manumbalik sa pagmamahal sa kanilang kalikasan,” Senator Robin Padilla said.

“Just to react to the gentleman from Tarlac saying we cannot do nothing. Let me agree with him 101 %. My point is we have to do something radical kasi mabigat masyado ang problema,” Senator Alan Peter Cayetano said.