EDCOM Year 1

Recommendation
s
EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT (ECCD)
AND

BASIC EDUCATION

ORSELY JOYCE G. FULLER

MASTERS OF ARTS IN EDUCATION MAJOR IN EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT (MAED-EM)
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Priority 1: Nutrition and Feeding

 1. Study the equitable allocation of resources by

identifying better targeting mechanisms and coverage
for nutritionally at-risk children to create a long-term and
sustainable impact of health and nutrition programs.
Prioritizing the equitable distribution of resources, especially in
lower-income municipalities, can ensure that each child has
access to health and nutrition interventions that are critical to
early childhood care and development.
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Priority 1: Nutrition and Feeding

 2. Find possible complementarities of the Pantawid

Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the Food Stamp
Program of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development. This is in recognition that the challenge of
nutrition demands a multisectoral solution for addressing the
intricacies of maternal and child health and nutrition
comprehensively.
 Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Priority 1: Nutrition and Feeding
 EDCOM I has proposed a comprehensive set of evidence-based
nutrition interventions during the early years. This is reflected in
the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2024, where Php 300 million is
specifically designated for nutritionally at-risk pregnant mothers and
children below 5 years old in fifth- and sixth-class municipalities
exhibiting more than or equal to 15% stunting rates in nonfood stamp
sites. There should be interventions that aim to complement the
Philippine Multisectoral Nutrition Project, emphasizing a concerted
effort to address nutrition challenges comprehensively.
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Priority 2: Supply-Side Factors

 3. Develop a universal ECCD database. Consolidated data

from multisectoral and interagency sources are essential for the
purpose of systematic monitoring, reporting, and targeted
intervention. This will empower agencies to align efforts, allocate
resources, and implement interventions efficiently.
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Priority 2: Supply-Side Factors

 4. Expand the ECCD provisions to encompass private,

community-based, and home-based programs. To achieve
universal access to ECCD, especially for ages 3–4, it is
imperative to expand and support alternative delivery modes.
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Priority 2: Supply-Side Factors
 5. Develop education pathways for child development
workers and teachers through certificate programs by
the Technical Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and
the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

 6. Create plantilla positions for child development

workers and teachers.
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Priority 2: Supply-Side Factors

 EDCOM II has formally requested TESDA and CHED to undertake

the development of training regulations (for National Certificates)
and Policies, Standards, and Guidelines (for associate degrees).
Both agencies have committed to initiating this process.
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Priority 4: Governance and Financing of
ECCD

 7. Strengthen the ECCD Council Governing Board to include

the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

 8. Include a representative of ECCD on the local school

board.
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Priority 4: Governance and Financing of
ECCD

 9. Study complementarities in service delivery on the ground:

local councils for the protection of children, barangay nutrition
scholars, and barangay health workers.

 10. Establish equity-oriented funding and policy interventions.

This should focus on ensuring access to child development centers, as
well as the resourcing of nutrition programs, in fifth- and sixth-class
municipalities and geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Priority 4: Governance and Financing of ECCD

 The above 3 interventions (Recommendations 6, 7, and 8) are in

the bill filed by EDCOM II Commissioners through provisions in
the Basic Education and Early Childhood Alignment Act, or
Senate Bill No. 2029; and House Bill No. 8393, authored by
Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, EDCOM II co-chair, and
Representative Jose Francisco B. Benitez, who serves as co-chair
for the standing committee on ECCD.
Basic Education
Priority 5: Learning Resources

 11. For the Department of Education (DepEd) to look into

the possibility of procuring books that are already
available on the market rather than engaging publishers
to develop new ones.
Basic Education
Priority 5: Learning Resources
 EDCOM II urged DepEd to review its strategy for ensuring
timely textbook procurement for the upcoming school
year. Given that the estimated duration of the procurement
process under the new policy takes a year, DepEd must be
prepared to provide alternative teaching and learning resources
if it intends to roll out the MATATAG curriculum in SY 2024–2025.
Basic Education
Priority 6: Measurement of Learning Outcomes

 12. Review the Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass

Media Survey (FLEMMS). FLEMMS’s framework and results are
published and widely disseminated; however, the results of
FLEMMS are not used by DepEd for planning curricular
interventions. One possible reason is that the definitions of basic
literacy and functional literacy measured by the parameters of
FLEMMS do not necessarily match the literacies measured by
DepEd.
 Basic Education
Priority 6: Measurement of Learning Outcomes

 13. For DepEd to streamline the current assessment landscape in

basic education as a temporary measure. DepEd should develop a
cohesive, unified assessment framework that comprehensively
encompasses all levels of assessments. The implementation of
standardized assessments at the regional and division levels should also
be discouraged, provided that DepEd can assure the consistent
administration and timely release of results for national key stage
assessments, such as the National Achievement Test and the Early
Language, Literacy, and Numeracy Assessment.
Basic Education
Priority 6: Measurement of Learning Outcomes

 14. Modernize test administration, emphasizing

investment in essential components such as
infrastructure, staffing, and training that are vital for the
successful implementation of computer-based
assessments. This will alleviate the multitude of procurement
challenges associated with traditional paper-based tests while
enhancing data collection and analysis and ensuring prompt
release and analysis of assessment results.
Basic Education
Priority 6: Measurement of Learning Outcomes

 15. Expand the staffing complement within the Bureau of

Education Assessment and place emphasis on the need
for implementing comprehensive training and mentoring
programs.
Basic Education
Priority 7: Curriculum and Instruction

 16. For DepEd to address issues hindering teachers from

delivering quality instruction prior to the full
implementation of the revised curriculum. These include
teacher training and the development and distribution of
learning resources. DepEd should also formulate a contingency
plan to ensure that teachers and learners will have adequate
learning resources by the upcoming school year.
 Basic Education
Priority 7: Curriculum and Instruction
 To complement initiatives to assess and evaluate the
curriculum and instruction, the EDCOM II Commissioners from
the House of Representatives approved House Bill (HB) No.
6717, a bill suspending the implementation of the Mother
Tongue– Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE), under Sec. 4
of Republic Act (RA) No. 10533, otherwise known as the
Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, which mandates the use
of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction or first
language from Kindergarten to Grade 3.
Basic Education
Priority 7: Curriculum and Instruction

 HB 6717 was approved on the third reading on February 6, 2023. It

was transmitted to and received by the Senate on February 7, 2023,
and further hearings were conducted by the Senate Committee on
Basic Education. The Committee Report was calendared for ordinary
business on November 22, 2023.
Basic Education
Priority 7: Curriculum and Instruction

 The suspension of the MTB-MLE is also being considered in

Senate Bill (SB) No. 2457, An Act Redefining the Application of
the Mother Tongue as Medium of Instruction from Kindergarten
to Grade 3, Amending for the Purpose Sections 4 and 5 of RA
10533 by Senator Gatchalian.
 Basic Education
Priority 7: Curriculum and Instruction

 17. For DepEd to consider the consultation findings of

EDCOM II in their implementation of the National Learning
Recovery Program.
a. Conduct regular and timely assessments that yield granular
data on learner progress;
b. Group learners according to their level of proficiency rather
than their grade level;
c. Prioritize foundational skills in reading, writing, and numeracy,
as well as socioemotional learning; and
d. Mobilize parents and the community to provide the
interventions as support to teachers.
Basic Education
Priority 7: Curriculum and Instruction
 In parallel with the consultation of existing learning recovery
programs and initiatives of DepEd, EDCOM II Commissioners
filed legislation to provide systematic learning interventions
to improve learning outcomes through the proposed ARAL
Program Act, An Act Establishing an Academic Recovery and
Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program, Appropriating Funds
Therefor, and for Other Purposes (SB 1604 by Senator
Gatchalian et al. and HB 8210 by Representative Romulo et
al.).
THANK YOU!