Senate ratifies ARAL bill to help pupils with low proficiency in basic subjects

The Senate on Tuesday ratified the proposed Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Law.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who sponsored the bicameral conference committee report, said that the panel has come up with a measure that "seeks to establish a free and effective national learning intervention program to ensure that all learners who are struggling in their lessons, especially in reading, mathematics, and science will be able to attain the competencies in their respective grade levels."

"At the core of the ARAL Program is the commitment to impart knowledge from qualified tutors to the covered learners from Kindergarten to Grade 10. As such, recovering learners will engage in well-systematized tutorial sessions with an army of teachers, para-teachers, and pre-service teachers who receive sufficient training, focusing on effective pedagogies, interpersonal skills, social-emotional learning, and cultural competency, among others," he said.

According to Gatchalian, the proposed law is crucial to mitigating the potential economic losses exceeding P10 trillion over the next four decades.

The ARAL Program Act will simultaneously advance both the learning recovery of the students and the economic recovery of the nation, said Gatchalian. — BM, GMA Integrated News