By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora | Philippine News Agency
The Department of Education (DepEd) assured on Thursday that the government has been intensifying interventions in schools following reports of more than 18 million high school graduates from 2019-2024 considered “functionally illiterate” or unable to read and comprehend.
DepEd Sec. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said that instead of memorization, the agency is making efforts to help students become critical thinkers while teaching them 21st-century skills.
“Hindi namin hahayaang may batang nahuhuli sa pagbasa at pag-unawa. The recent FLEMMS (Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey) results on functional literacy highlight what we have long recognized—literacy must be at the heart of our education reforms,” he said.
The government, he said, is improving the teaching and assessment method as well as the remedial and literacy programs in schools.
Angara said the agency will ensure that every Filipino learner is functionally literate and prepared for the future.
Lawmakers also expressed alarm over the results of 2024 FLEMMS, which was presented by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) during a Senate Committee on Basic Education hearing on Wednesday.
On the other hand, the PSA defines a functionally literate person as someone who can read, write, compute, and comprehend.
