Strengthen revival of educ system: Solon

There is a need to strengthen measures to revive the country's educational system hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was the call of Senator Win Gatchalian as he refiled Senate Bill 150 or the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning Act seeking to address learning loss and institutionalize national learning intervention programs amid the prevailing health crisis.

The academic sector is among various institutions severely affected by the pandemic.

Gatchalian said the bill was designed to include well-systematized tutorial sessions and well-designed remediation plans in the country's recovery efforts from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It will focus on essential learning competencies in Language, Mathematics, and Science," he added.

The proposed measure will push for the provision of nutritional, social, and emotional health support to ensure the holistic well-being of learners, "for them to prosper academically, and build resilience against adversity."

Gatchalian also filed Senate Bill 379, or the Basic Education Mental Health and Well-Being Promotion Act, seeking to institutionalize the Mental Health and Well-Being Program for Filipinos.

The proposed measure likewise calls for the establishment of a mental health and well-being center in basic education schools — in a bid to address the mental, emotional, and developmental needs of learners, as well as teachers and non-teaching personnel while the country exerts all efforts to return back to normalcy after more than two years of battling with the dreaded coronavirus disease.