Manila, Sept. 15 -- The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday renewed its call for lawmakers to allocate funds for the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program anew to sustain recent gains in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

The Philippines hit its strongest performance since it joined PISA in 2018, emerging as the fastest-improving education system in reading in the world under the 2025 PISA.

"These latest PISA gains are an encouraging checkpoint, not the finish line. They prove that system-wide progress is possible, but they also highlight why sustained funding and structured interventions like ARAL remain non-negotiable," Education Secretary Sonny Angara said in a statement.

Remediation...