MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed the Department of Education to include five-year-old children in government-run day care centers run to strengthen and expand the DepEd’s pre-school program starting June 2008.

Under Executive Order 685, the government has allocated a little over P100 million for the first six months for the "day care support program."

Of this amount, P93 million was set aside for the special training of day care workers and the provision of books and other instructional materials.

Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus noted that "while management of day care centers still remains with the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the DepEd is ready to take on this overwhelming task."

According to Lapus, the DepEd will provide teacher training for day care center workers on the pre-school curriculum and the competencies for pre-school education, using standard instructional materials.

DepEd’s special pre-school program is mandated by Republic Act 8980, which states that "the government shall institutionalize an integrated system of early childhood care and development that will serve all children aged five years and below," according to Lapus.

"The department is constrained to enforce universal pre-school education simply because it is not yet part of the 10-year basic education ladder,” said Lapus. “In this manner, we can compel parents to send their five-year old children to schools."

He emphasized that the pre-school education program for five-year olds would support the government’s aim to provide quality early childhood education, using a standard curriculum approved by DepEd for both private and government-run day care centers.

Lapus also stressed the importance of pre-schools, pointing to studies here and abroad showing that children with pre-school training would most likely finish elementary schooling.

"If a child has a favorable pre-school experience, chances are great they can finish up to Grade 4, then Grade 6 and further up the basic education ladder," he noted.

Lapus said the challenge would be to expose kids to "interesting and fun-filled early childhood education."

The DepEd secretary appealed anew to local government units to continue supporting pre-schools.

According to DepEd records, there are close to 12,000 state-run pre-schools nationwide. On the other hand, there are only 7,500 private pre-schools nationwide which are accredited by DepEd.

The DepEd has also asked Congress to institutionalize both public and private pre-schools in the basic education system.