Senator Loren Legarda has filed the K to 3 Foundational Learning and Nurturing Care Act which is aimed at tackling the country’s persistent crisis in early education.

The proposed bill, Legarda said, primarily seeks to strengthen literacy, numeracy, and socio‑emotional learning during the critical years of Kindergarten to Grade 3.

The measure aims to bridge the gap between early childhood care and the formal K–12 system, she said.

Legarda emphasized the urgency of the measure, citing EDCOM II findings that nearly half of Filipino learners are unable to read at grade level by the end of Grade 3.

Legarda lamented how global studies by UNICEF and the World Bank reveal that 91% of Filipino children at late primary age cannot read and understand a simple story, placing the Philippines among the countries with the highest learning poverty rates in the world.

“What begins as a reading problem ultimately becomes a learning crisis,” Legarda stressed. 

“If we fail our children in the early years, we fail them for life. This is a crisis we cannot afford to ignore,” she warned.

“Kindergarten to Grade 3 is a critical stage that determines whether a child will stay on track or fall into struggle,” Legarda further said.

“Without deliberate investment in these formative years, ECCD gains will be lost, and children will be left unprepared for the demands of higher education,” she said.

Legarda said the proposed foundational learning measure seeks to adopt a prevention‑first strategy, ensuring that children build strong foundations early, reducing the need for costly remediation later. 

The bill also calls for high‑quality, language‑rich and numeracy‑rich instruction fully integrated with socio‑emotional learning (SEL) and values formation, so that learners not only read and count but also learn to manage emotions, build positive relationships, make responsible decisions, and navigate challenges with empathy and resilience.

“Foundational learning is more than learning how to read and count. It is about nurturing and building the skills, habits, and values that shape a child for life. It is about raising citizens who can think critically, care deeply, and act with integrity and responsibility,” she stressed.