Pasig City lone district Rep. Roman Romulo has pinpointed his two main takeaways from the final report of the Second Congressional Commission on Education or EDCOM II, which is seen as a comprehensive diagnosis on the local education system.

“Kakatapos pa lang po ng EDCOM 2. Nag-umpisa siya three years ago, nag-expire po sya January 23, 2026 at pursuant to the law itself ay naisubmit na po namin ‘yung final report sa Senate, sa House of Representatives at nung isang araw sa Malacañang kay President Marcos,” Romulo told a news forum in Quezon City Saturday, Jan. 31.

(The work of EDCOM 2 has just concluded. It began three years ago and officially expired on January 23, 2026. In accordance with the law, we have already submitted the final report to the Senate, the House of Representatives, and just recently to President Marcos in Malacañang.)

“In a nutshell po, nilalaman po nitong huling report na ito ay yung mga nakita po ng EDCOM 2 na pinakamahalaga, priority areas na dapat nating bigyan ng pansin at meron na din pong mga solusyon na naisulat na rin dun sa huling final report na binigay,” noted the House Committee on Basic Education chairman.

(In a nutshell, this final report contains EDCOM 2’s key findings, priority areas that demand urgent attention, and it also lays out proposed solutions.)

Among 20 identified priority areas in the final report, Romulo said two were clearly above the rest in terms of importance.

“Yung ECCD (early childhood care and development), yung early childhood, yung mga bata below five years old kasi sabi po ng mga dalubhasa, kung ang below five years old ay stunted or wasted ang growth nila, hindi lamang physical ’yon kasama rin po yung kanilang thinking capacity pati yun apektado po yun,” he said.

(The first is ECCD, it's about early childhood, focusing on children below five years old. Experts have warned that if children under five suffer from stunting or wasting, it affects not only their physical growth but also their cognitive capacity.)

Romulo warned that missed interventions at this stage are nearly impossible to reverse later on.

“Sinabi rin ng mga dalubhasa pagka stunted o wasted, siyempre apektado pati ‘yung pag-iisip ng bata kahit na anong gawin natin sa K-12. Kahit palakasin natin supplemental feeding, hindi na mahahabol ‘yan,” he explained.

(Experts have also pointed out that when a child is stunted or wasted, their cognitive development is inevitably affected. No matter what we do within K–12, even if we strengthen supplemental feeding programs, that lost potential can no longer be recovered.)

The second critical priority area, he said, focuses on the earliest years of formal schooling. “Pangalawa na importante priority area po talaga ay yung Key Stage 1, K–3 (The second important priority area is Key Stage 1, covering Grades K–3)."

“Alam naman natin lahat, ang dami na international at local assessments sinasabi marami sa ating learners hindi po grade level reading ang kanilang comprehension (We all know from numerous international and local assessments that many of our learners are not achieving grade-level reading comprehension),” he continued.

Because of this, Romulo stressed that foundational skills must be firmly established before students move on.

“Kailangan po natin siguraduhin at ang pinakamahalaga ay yung Grades 1–3 dahil dun po yung basic functional literacy (We must ensure that Grades 1–3 are strengthened, because this is where basic functional literacy is built).

“Siguraduhin natin lahat ng bata, pag-abot ng Grade 3, grade-level reading comprehension, ready sila at mathematics. Marami pa po ibang aspeto po ’yan. Pero again po, ’yan siguro yung panimula na mabanggit po natin,” Roman said further said.

(We need to guarantee that by Grade 3, every child has grade-level reading comprehension and is prepared in mathematics. Of course, there are many other aspects to address, but this is where we must begin.)