MANILA, Philippines – In a Senate hearing last Wednesday, April 30, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate basic education committee, expressed alarm over the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) periodic study results, which showed that as many as 18.9 million Filipinos who completed secondary education (senior high school) between 2019 and 2024 may have basic literacy issues.
According to Gatchalian, the PSA’s Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Study (FLEMMS) showed that these graduates can be considered “functionally illiterate” because, despite having spent years in school, they have poor reading comprehension.
Often, these individuals know how to read, write, and compute; however, they couldn’t understand what they read.
As the co-chair of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2), Gatchalian shared that the statistical data showed that another 5.86 million Filipinos belonging to the same age group (senior high school) are considered as “basic illiterate.” This means that despite their “advanced age” (compared to younger students) as young adults, they’re still unable to read, write, and compute.
In short, while many students struggle to read, those who know how to do it often have trouble understanding what they’ve just read.
Gatchalian believes that these learning issues may be among the reasons for the high poverty incidence experienced in several provinces.
How do these learning issues affect these young people? Well, even if they do know how to write their names and answer basic questions, they might have trouble grasping concepts and understanding written instructions, especially more complex ones. Worse, they might even have trouble properly filling out something as simple as a job application form.
Based on the FLEMMS result, as many as 21% of senior high school graduates are “functionally illiterate.”
“That means that one out of five of our [high school] graduates cannot comprehend and understand a simple story, and that’s something that we need to address,” Gatchalian explained.
“No one should graduate from our basic education system who is not functional literate.”
The Philippines has long been known as one of the best sources of talented people for various professions, and we’re among the top locations for business process outsourcing companies. These are often correlated with how well Filipinos speak (and understand) the English language.
Aside from possible issues they might encounter in their daily lives, the problems with basic literacy could also affect the availability of workers for various jobs in the near future.
Gatchalian believes that the FLEMMS results should serve as a wake-up call for policymakers to collaborate and develop a national strategy to address the “grave” situation as soon as possible.
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
