In line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s directive to ensure quality education for Filipino children, more child development centers (CDCs) would be built in the country’s underserved areas, according to Education Secretary Sonny Angara, as he emphasized the significance of giving support for early childhood education, especially in low-income areas.

“The investment we make in early childhood education today determines the kind of nation we build tomorrow. This is not just about education; it is a nation-building strategy,” he said, and emphasized that this is a “game-changing enabler.”

Although Republic Act No. 8980 was enacted in 2000, or 25 years ago, at least 3,800 barangays in the country have no CDCs, according to the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Council.

Republic Act No. 8980, also known as the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Act, establishes a national policy and system for ECCD in the Philippines, aiming to improve child survival, development, and transition to primary school, while also enhancing caregiver capabilities and establishing quality standards for ECCD programs. Subsequently, Republic Act No. 10410 was enacted in 2013, recognizing the period from age zero to eight years as the first crucial stage of development. For age zero to four years, the ECCD Council was vested the primary responsibility for childhood care and development; for age five years to eight years, the Department of Education (DepEd) takes the cudgels.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman has supported the issuance of a joint circular that provides clear guidelines to local government units (LGUs) on how to request and access funding from the Local Government Support Fund — Financial Assistance for the “construction, rehabilitation, or upgrading of multipurpose buildings (MPBs)” which will be used as CDCs. Low-income LGUs will be prioritized in the said funding.

To facilitate fund release and disbursement, LGUs will use the DBM’s apps portal to send their fund requests for MPB projects, which will then be subject to the DepEd’s evaluation and endorsement. To concretize their commitment as stakeholders, LGUs are expected to provide at least 150 square meters of land area, as well as shoulder the salaries of teachers and utilities for its operational costs.

The foregoing developments are better understood within the larger context of raising the quality of basic education by enhancing the aptitude levels of the country’s youngest learners, if we are to bridge the huge gap separating the Philippines from Singapore and other ASEAN neighbors — a situation that was aggravated by the prolonged quarantine and school lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022.

Clearly, the Marcos administration is marshalling its machinery and resources, both at the national and local government levels, to address priority concerns that are central to the attainment of national goals. Adopting a lifting-the-bottoms approach, the government is focusing on the needs of the least-endowed sectors. In this way, it assures that no one is left behind, nor deprived of services that are pivotal to human development.

Parents and caregivers play crucial roles as they are in the frontlines of early child development. Thereafter, barangays and communities assume responsibility for easing the burden of poor and disadvantaged families.

Finally, the early identification, prevention, and referral of developmental disorders and disabilities must be given full attention. Setting and enforcement of quality standards, including registration and credentialing of ECCD service providers must also be ensured.