Public school students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 are set to receive complete sets of textbooks after the government allocated P19.5 billion for instructional materials under the 2026 national budget, according to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.

Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said the funding aims to address the long-standing problem of students sharing textbooks in public schools.

“Under the 2026 national budget, we ensured that no student will lack textbooks. If before more than one student had to share a single book, that will no longer be the case now,” Gatchalian said Saturday.

The allocation will support the Department of Education’s rollout of the MATATAG Curriculum.

However, Gatchalian urged the education department to improve fund utilization, noting that the utilization rate for textbooks and other instructional materials in 2025 was only 14 percent.

At a Senate Committee on Finance hearing, Carmela Oracion reported that the agency has conducted early procurement worth P7 billion.

The textbooks ordered will cover Grades 6, 9 and 10, the remaining grade levels needed for the full implementation of the MATATAG Curriculum.

Oracion said the remaining P12 billion will be distributed to regional offices to support the nationwide rollout of textbooks.