By Bea Rollo
(May 1, 2025) — Around 18 million Filipinos graduated from high school between 2019 and 2024 despite not having sufficient reading skills, according to the initial findings of a Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) survey presented during a Senate hearing.
In 2024, the PSA revised the definition of “functional literacy” under its Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FELEMMS). The new criteria now go beyond basic reading, writing, and numeracy, and include a higher level of comprehension.
The survey FLEMMS data showed 21% of senior high school graduates suffer illiteracy
“This is a problem of basic education. How did they graduate without being functionally literate?” said PSA official Adrian Cerezo.
As a result, the survey no longer automatically classifies junior or senior high school graduates as “literate” unless they meet the new functional literacy standards.
Moreover, Sen. Win Gatchalian, co-chairperson of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), stressed the need for the Department of Education (DepEd) to take a more proactive role in ensuring that students graduate with adequate reading and comprehension skills.
“That’s a problem of basic education – because paano sila nag-graduate nang hindi sila functionally literate?… This is where basic education comes in, that 18 million should not happen. No one should graduate in our basic education system that is functionally literate,” he said.
“The very basic goal of basic education is that students become functionally literate. That’s not the case now. In our EDCOM rounds, we have detected kids as old as 15 years old who cannot read a simple story. We have seen that on the ground. And I’m sure most of you teachers, principals, have also seen this on the ground.”
He urged the DepEd to implement urgent reforms to address what he described as a growing literacy crisis, warning that graduating without the ability to read and comprehend effectively undermines the purpose of education and limits students’ future opportunities in both employment and further learning.
(AAD)
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