Senator Loren Legarda underscored the importance of passing Senate Bill No. 1853, otherwise known as the K to 3 Foundational Learning and Nurturing Care Act, as a concrete solution in helping solve the Philippine learning crisis.

According to Legarda, the State must strengthen the educational and developmental foundations of children from birth through Grade 3, as this is considered a critical period in learning and development of cognitive skills.

"When students fall behind in the early years, they face mounting difficulties in grasping more complex lessons in higher grades, and many never fully catch up," Legarda said during her privilege speech on Wednesday, February 25.

"The measure directly responds to the urgent need to strengthen literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional development during the critical years of  Kindergarten to Grade 3, so that no child is left behind at the very start of their educational journey and early deficits do not turn into lifelong disadvantages," she continued.

In her speech, Legarda noted that the K-3 stage is a critical stage that will prepare children for the demands of higher education.

Under the proposed law, the system will adopt a prevention-first strategy, which will ensure the establishment of a foundation, which will prevent remedial lessons later on.

The proposed bill also leans into the usage of high-quality, language-rich, and numeracy-rich instruction early, which will be integrated with socio-emotional learning and values formation.

The move will ensure that children will be literate, as well as able to manage emotions, build positive relationships, make responsible decisions, and navigate challenges with empathy and resilience.

"Let us act with urgency. Let us act with resolve. We cannot allow this crisis to persist," asserted the four-term senator.

"We cannot allow another generation to be lost. Every year of delay means more children reach higher grades carrying gaps that could have been prevented in their earliest years," she continued.

"The learning crisis already affects productivity, employability, and social cohesion; addressing it at its roots is a matter of justice and national interest."

As chairperson of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical, and Vocational Education and co-chair of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), Legarda has consistently pushed foundational learning as a key cog in her agenda in education reform.