Salary Loan Table - RNG Coastal Bank RNG Bank offers salary loan for permanent DepEd teaching and non-teaching staff thru Automatic Payroll Deduction System (APDS). Features: 📍LOW INTEREST RATE 📍LOAN AMOUNT UP TO 500,000 📍5 YEARS MAXIMUM LOAN TERM 📍NO HIDDEN CHARGES 📍NO NEED TO GO TO THE OFFICE A Bank that is built with trust and integrity and committed to provide quality and safe banking services to its existing and future clients, RNG Coastal Bank, Inc . is a banking institution established in the year 1974. The Bank has 15 operating branches in the Visayas, 11 in Cebu and 4 in Bohol. Providing various financial products and services to its clients for almost 50 years, RNG Coastal Bank remains strong and continuously grows its number of branches to reach more Filipinos. Here are the branches of RNG Coastal Bank: RNG Coastal Bank Head Office Cor. Cabancalan Road, Talamban, Cebu City 6000 Labangon Branch Punta Princesa, (Labangon) Cebu City Asturias Branch Poblacion, Asturias, Ce...
The Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program, created through Republic Act No. 12028, isn’t just another government policy — it’s a national response to an educational emergency. And as with all meaningful legislation, everything begins with how we define things.
In the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the ARAL Program Act, the Definition of Terms section plays a critical role. These are not simply semantic clarifications. According to Morton and Hashim (2023), and Carbonari et al. (2024), clear, shared definitions are necessary to implement consistent, inclusive, and effective academic recovery programs across diverse learning contexts.
Below, we explore each term — not just what it means, but why it matters.
📚 Academic Recovery – Bridging Gaps, Not Just Backlogs
Academic Recovery refers to the identification of learners’ academic gaps and the design of interventions to help them reach grade-level proficiency. More than make-up classes, it involves individualized instruction, needs-based assessment, and targeted support to enable real progress.
As Carbonari et al. (2024) note, recovery efforts must be data-informed and learner-centered, ensuring that children are not just promoted but are truly ready for the next level.
🏫 Accessible Learning Recovery Program – Learning for All, Without Exception
This term means creating and delivering instruction that ensures every learner meets the essential learning competencies, regardless of background or disability. It’s built on the principles of equity, flexibility, and accessibility — as emphasized in the World Bank’s 2022 Education Recovery Report.
It pushes DepEd to expand tools such as offline access, inclusive pedagogy, and community-based interventions.
📜 Act and IRR – Legal Framework for Transformation
-
The Act refers to Republic Act No. 12028, which establishes the ARAL Program.
-
The IRR stands for the Implementing Rules and Regulations, which operationalize the Act’s goals.
Without the IRR, the Act would remain abstract. The IRR lays out who does what, how interventions will be implemented, and what tools and terms will be used.
🧠 Assessments – Knowing What Learners Know
Assessments are tools used to gather, interpret, and evaluate learners’ performance — both quantitatively and qualitatively. These can be classroom-based, school-wide, or system-level assessments that inform instructional adjustments.
They are central to measuring learning loss, identifying minimum proficiency levels, and guiding remedial actions.
🔁 Balik-Aral – Returning to Hope
Balik-Aral refers to learners who have resumed education after dropping out for at least a year. This definition recognizes the social and economic realities many Filipino students face, and reflects the ARAL Program’s inclusive intent to welcome them back and support them.
⏳ Block of Time – Strategic Learning Schedules
This term refers to a time management strategy where a teacher, tutor, or learning facilitator divides the lesson into organized blocks. It ensures focus, reduced distractions, and targeted delivery of key competencies.
📶 Data Plan – Powering Digital Learning
A data plan is a subscription from Public Telecommunications Entities (PTEs) that allows internet access via mobile networks. Under ARAL, subsidized data plans help learners and tutors access LMS apps, ensuring that connectivity isn't a barrier.
🏢 DepEd and DepEd Apps – Institutional Support
-
DepEd refers to the Department of Education, the lead agency in ARAL implementation.
-
DepEd Apps are cloud-hosted educational tools with static public IP addresses, designed to deliver learning content efficiently and securely.
These tools provide structured online support, enabling tracking, assessment, and content delivery nationwide.
🧩 Essential Learning Competencies – The Non-Negotiables
These are core knowledge and skills that learners must master. They are foundational, serving as prerequisites for higher-order thinking and next-level learning.
🔤 Foundational Skills – Literacy and Numeracy First
Refers to the basic skills learners need for all other learning — especially reading, writing, and mathematics. According to UNESCO (2022), foundational skills are the most critical indicators of long-term academic success.
🔓 Free Access – Removing Digital Barriers
Means using DepEd LMS apps without any data charges, thanks to partnerships with PTEs. This is a major equity move, ensuring that students in low-income or remote communities are not left out of the digital classroom.
🛑 Furlough – Temporary Academic Pause
A furlough is a temporary absence from school for reasons such as health, family, or financial issues. Unlike dropouts, furloughs are often voluntary and short-term, with plans for reintegration.
🧑🎓 Learners – At the Heart of It All
Simply put, learners are individuals enrolled in the basic education system, guided by a teacher, tutor, or facilitator.
📉 Learning Loss – The Silent Crisis
Defined as the reduction in knowledge and skills due to extended breaks or crises (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic). As per the Harvard Center for Education Policy Research (2023), learning loss has long-term effects on earnings, well-being, and national growth.
💻 Learner Management Systems (LMS Apps) – Learning Without Walls
These are digital platforms that manage, deliver, and track educational content. They include online courses, libraries, and self-paced modules used in the ARAL Program.
📏 Minimum Proficiency Level – The Academic Baseline
This term refers to the minimum acceptable performance in a subject area, measured by assessment tools. It’s the goalpost for learners under recovery or remediation.
🏕️ National Learning Camp – Summer of Support
A summer learning recovery program that addresses gaps in public elementary and secondary schools. It offers an alternative academic environment with flexible teaching methods.
👩🏫 Para-Teachers and Pre-Service Teachers – Expanding the Teaching Force
-
Para-Teachers are LET takers who did not pass but were issued a special permit to teach where professional teachers are lacking.
-
Pre-Service Teachers are student-teachers enrolled in teacher education programs, gaining experience while supporting ARAL efforts.
📡 Public Telecommunications Entity (PTE) – Digital Access Partners
These are companies authorized by the NTC to provide internet services — essential in implementing free data access for educational apps under ARAL.
🔁 Remedial or Remediation – Catch-Up with Care
Instructional support for learners who are not meeting expectations. This includes tutorials, mentoring, and coaching, offered before/after school or on weekends (DepEd Memo provisions apply).
👩🏫 Teachers and Tutors – Frontliners of Learning Recovery
-
Teachers are full-time or part-time professionals in elementary or secondary schools.
-
Tutors teach individuals or small groups, often providing personalized instruction in tutorial sessions.
📚 Tutorial Sessions – Deep, Personalized Learning
These are intimate instructional encounters, often 1-on-1 or in small groups, aimed at providing targeted guidance and active learner engagement. As Bates (2015) explained, this format helps learners absorb and apply lessons more effectively.
💸 Subsidy Grantees – Empowering Access Through Support
These are identified learners and tutors in financial need, eligible for DepEd subsidies to purchase data plans or gain access to LMS apps. This guarantees equity in participation.
✅ Conclusion: Definitions with Purpose, Words with Power 🗝️
These definitions are not just technical details — they are a vision in motion. They tell us what the ARAL Program stands for: recovery, inclusivity, and access. Every term is a thread in the bigger fabric of rebuilding Philippine education, with special care for those most vulnerable.
Understanding these terms means understanding the mission — and ensuring that as a country, we speak the same language of education, hope, and recovery.