EDCOM 2: 85% of grades 1 to 3 students are struggling readers

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) said on Tuesday that 85% of grades 1 to 3 students are “struggling readers”, further underscoring the literacy crisis nationwide.

“Our data, at the beginning of the school year in July, found that the grade level students in our grades 1 to 3 are only 15%,” EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark R. Yee told reporters in Filipino at the sidelines of an event.

“It means that 85% of grades 1 to 3 students are struggling readers,” he added.

Data from the commission in November also echoed the same concern, revealing 24.8 million functionally illiterate Filipinos.

According to Mr. Yee, challenges in literacy are mainly caused by a lack of learning resources, teacher training, and community mobilization,

“Children need books because how can you improve literacy if you don’t have anything to read. Second, teacher training, and third, mobilizing the community,” he said. “Parents really need to play a role especially in Kinder to Grade 3, learning does not stop in school.”

The EDCOM 2 executive director underscored that initiatives from the Education department, such as the newly launched Bayang Bumabasa Initiative, help schools address literacy gaps among students.

Bayang Bumabasa Initiative aims to help schools with “higher literacy challenges” by providing grants of up to P1 million.

“If they are facing challenges unique to their own school, they can access resources from DepEd and the support that they need to be able to address literacy challenges,” Mr. Yee said.

“It will be dependent on the proposal of the school and they should justify how it will really support improved learner outcomes or literacy of students,” he added.

Mr. Yee noted that the initiative aligns with the commission’s social media campaign Bayang Bumabasa: Mayors for Literacy which encourages local government units to champion literacy in their respective areas.

“It’s important to involve the mayors because if they are not, it’s really going to be hard for DepEd,” he said. “They are the ones who know the child who dropped out, the child who is frequently absent.”

“If the mayor and the barangay help, they can find these children, bring them back to school, and talk to their parents,” he added.

About 20 mayors have participated in the social media campaign, including Pasig City Mayor Victor Ma. Regis “Vico” N. Sotto and Naga City Mayor Maria Leonor “Leni” G. Robredo. — Almira Louise S. Martinez