The Senate Committee on Finance has approved a proposal to increase funding for the Department of Education's (DepEd) School Electrification Program.

The Senate's Committee Report on the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for Fiscal Year 2025 (House Bill No. 10800) added P500 million to the P1.295 billion allotted to the School Electrification Program.

The additional funding, which was proposed by Committee on Basic Education Chairperson Senator Win Gatchalian, seeks the provision of electricity to unenergized or off-grid schools and modernizes the electrical systems of on-grid schools.

“As we all know, some of our schools are still left in the dark, and I would like to thank the Senate Committee on Finance for adding P500 million to the School Electrification Program,” Gatchalian said during his interpellation on the DepEd's 2025 proposed budget. 

While other countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia already achieved universal access, Gatchalian said the Philippines still confronts the challenging electrification of schools.

Data from a 2024 research paper by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies revealed that 1,562 schools still had no electricity connection as of 2020. 

The study also found that a total of 39,335 schools still need upgrades on their electrical connections as of 2020. 

Further, a study published by the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies also revealed that on average, energized elementary schools performed 12 percent better on the National Achievement Test (NAT) than schools that do not have electricity. 

Secondary schools with electricity also performed 10 percent better than unenergized ones.

Gatchalian stressed the crucial need to ensure that all schools have access to electricity before fully advancing the broader use of technology in the country’s basic education system. 

“This goes hand in hand with our efforts to provide our schools with high-quality facilities for their learning,” he said.