The Senate Committee on Finance has approved a proposal to increase funding for textbooks and other learning materials by allocating an additional P300 million, Senator Win Gatchalian said Sunday.

The need to increase the budget for textbooks was previously raised by Gatchalian, who serves as the chairperson of the Basic Education Committee in the upper chamber.

Under the Senate Committee Report on the proposed 2025 national budget, P300 million was added to the P12.4 billion originally allocated for textbooks and other learning materials, specifically for Grade 3 textbooks and teachers’ manuals.

The Senate recently approved its final version of the proposed 2025 national budget.

“I thank the Senate Committee on Finance for approving the additional P300 million for the procurement of textbooks and other instructional materials,” Gatchalian said during his interpellation on the proposed 2025 budget of the Department of Education (DepEd) and its attached agencies earlier this week.

Gatchalian emphasized, however, that beyond increasing the budget for textbooks and other learning materials, there is a pressing need to streamline the procurement process to ensure that all learners receive complete sets of textbooks.

The Year One report of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) revealed that, from 2012 to last year, only 27 out of 90 textbook titles were procured for Grades 1 to 10.

The Commission’s report also showed that only learners from Grades 5 and 6 have complete sets of textbooks for all subjects.

The report further flagged the low budget utilization for textbooks and other instructional materials.

Out of more than P12.6 billion allotted from 2018 to 2022, only about P4.47 billion (35.3 percent) was obligated, and P951.9 million (7.5 percent) was disbursed.

Other issues in textbook procurement include insufficient development time, high participation costs, prolonged review processes, and pricing challenges.

While the textbook procurement process should only take 180 days, Gatchalian lamented that the current inefficiencies have stretched the timeline to an average of three years.

Gatchalian also stressed the need to increase funds for textbooks to ensure that each student will receive a book.

He then vowed to continue advocating reforms in the sector to ensure quality education for Filipinos.