AS overcrowded classrooms continue to strain learning, limit student focus, and make quality instruction more difficult, the Basic Education Voucher Program Act — approved by the bicameral conference committee — aims to expand school choices and give more Filipino learners access to better learning environments.

Four-term Senator Loren Legarda, co-author and co-sponsor of the Basic Education Voucher Program Act, welcomed the bicameral approval of the reconciled version of Senate Bill 1981 and House Bill 4744, which seeks to amend Republic Act 6728 or the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Act, as amended.

The measure institutionalizes a unified private education voucher system to ease classroom congestion in public schools, ease learning constraints such as high student-to-teacher ratios, and give Filipino learners greater educational choice.

The measure also strengthens accountability and transparency. Participating private schools must undergo quality assurance, administer national assessments, and publish performance data. Teachers in private schools will benefit from in‑service training, salary subsidies, and graduate scholarships, ensuring that reforms uplift both learners and educators.

Education has always been at the heart of Legarda’s public service, guiding her legislative priorities and shaping her broader reform agenda. Her leadership in education reform spans her tenure as former chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, former chairman of the Committee on Higher, Technical, and Vocational Education, and former co‑chairman of the Second Congressional Commission on Education. Across these roles, she consistently advanced measures that placed equity and quality at the center of education policy.

The Basic Education Voucher Program Act now stands as a cornerstone of that agenda — a measure designed to expand access, strengthen fairness, and raise the quality of learning for Filipino children across the nation.