Comprehension remains a challenge for Filipinos, says PSA

by Almira Louise S. Martinez, Reporter

Reading comprehension remains a primary challenge for Filipinos aged 10 to 64 despite high basic literacy, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

“If we compare our numbers to those of other countries in the ASEAN region, we’re not far behind; in fact, we are higher than other countries,” PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told a news briefing in Filipino.

“What we saw was that we have a problem with [is] comprehension, and that’s something we already knew before,” Mr. Maps added.

In the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), 93.1% of respondents have basic literacy, or those who can read, write, and compute; however, only 70.8% are considered functionally literate, or able to comprehend.

Mr. Mapa said in his presentation that for every nine individuals aged 10 to 64 who can read, write, and compute, two have difficulty with comprehension.

The data showed that Region 3 had the highest basic literacy rate at 92.8%, while the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), with 81.0% score ranked lowest.

For functional literacy, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) had the highest score of 81.2%, while Region 9 ranked the lowest with 59.3%.

Mr. Mapa added that a 2019 analysis by the PSA, which found that 2% of high school completers were unable to comprehend what they read, led the agency to discontinue the automatic classification of high school graduates as functionally literate.

“In our old assessment, we had what was called automatic assignment. This meant that once someone graduated from high school, they were automatically classified as functionally literate,” he said.

“Based on the previous surveys and our discussions with the technical experts from EDCOM2 (The Second Congressional Commission on Education) and DepEd (Department of Education), we really need to test them (high school graduates).”

Interventions

Through a more detailed survey, Mr. Mapa said the government can now create a more targeted intervention, designed for the different needs across the country.

“Intervention will now be targeted. Of course in schools, in different institutions, on specific provinces, including local government units.”

For low-performing areas, especially in provinces, INNOTECH Centre Director Majah-Leah V. Ravago said teachers influence the performance of students. “Teachers shape the learners, which affects this kind of outcome,” she told reporters in Filipino.

“We need to be more selective about who enters the teaching profession because it’s crucial, especially in basic education, and foundational learning which is DepEd’s focus today,” she added.

Ms. Ravago noted that to address the issue with literacy rates, the government must also concentrate on making the teaching profession ‘attractive’.

“One of the issues is salary, and then there’s the burdensome aspect of teaching, where teachers are expected to do much more than just teach,” she said.

“Let’s start with the interventions on teachers training to attract good teachers because they are the shapers of our learners,” she added.