Teachers at the Tanza elementary School in Navotas City clean their room on July 26, 2024, days after floods brought by torrential rains submerged the school.

Teachers at the Tanza elementary School in Navotas City clean their room on July 26, 2024, days after floods brought by torrential rains submerged the school. The Department of Education decided to push through with the opening of classes on July 29, except for those 'severely damaged' by the effects of habagat and typhoon Carina. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

HABAGAT-CARINA

Victoria Tulad

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/174600646534320240726-navotas-school-clean-up-JC-0060.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Teachers at the Tanza elementary School in Navotas City clean their room on July 26, 2024, days after floods brought by torrential rains submerged the school. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Teachers at the Tanza elementary School in Navotas City clean their room on July 26, 2024, days after floods brought by torrential rains submerged the school. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA -- More than 24 million Filipinos aged ten to 64 are functionally illiterate, while 5.8 million are basically illiterate, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said during Wednesday’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education.</p><p>Gatchalian, chair of the Committee, presented the findings of his office in light of their discussion on the initial results of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) 2024 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS).</p><p>“We have 5.86 million constituents who cannot read, write, and compute. Ito yung tinatawag nating no read no write,” he said. “The more accurate for the 24.8 million is they cannot comprehend. They can read, they can write, they can compute but they cannot comprehend.”</p><p>According to PSA, functional literacy is a higher form of literacy and is defined as the ability to read, write, compute and comprehend; meanwhile, basic literacy is the ability “to read and write a simple message in any language or dialect with understanding, and to compute or perform basic mathematical operations.”</p><p>Functional literacy in 2024 was at 70.8%, which translates to 60,170,000 Filipinos aged 10 to 64, while basic literacy was at 93.1% or 79,135,000 Filipinos from the same age bracket, according to the PSA.</p><p>The agency also mentioned an alarming number of senior high school graduates who are not functionally literate.</p><p>“Only 79% of senior high school graduates in the K to 12 curriculum are functionally literate,” Adrian Cerezo, PSA Assistant National Statistician, said.</p><p>Gatchalian responded: “That’s quite concerning. That means one out of five of our graduates cannot comprehend and understand a simple story.”  </p><p>“If you look at 2024 figure, there are 18 million students who the PSA detected that are senior high school, that are high school graduates and junior high school graduates, but are not functionally literate. So meaning they graduated from our basic education system but they cannot read, they cannot understand a simple story. That should not happen,” the Senator added.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2025/4/29/deped-says-to-use-ai-technology-to-help-learners-with-disabilities-1920">READ: DepEd says to use AI, technology to help learners with disabilities</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/4/23/deped-to-boost-implementation-of-4-summer-programs-in-may-1147">READ: DepEd to boost implementation of 4 summer programs in May</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>LOWEST LITERACY RATE</strong></div><p>Cerezo said basic literacy rate in 2024 was highest in Central Luzon or Region III at 92.8%, while the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) recorded the lowest with 81%.</p><p>The Cordillera Administrative Region had the highest functional literacy rate at 81.2%, while Region IX or the Zamboanga Peninsula had the lowest with 59.3%.</p><p>According to Gatchalian, Tawi-Tawi tops all of the places with high functional illiteracy rates.”</p><p>“That’s about 218,000 in terms of constituents,” Gatchalian said. “In Tawi-tawi, if you want to bring businesses there, have meaningful livelihood programs, it’s very difficult if people cannot understand and comprehend a simple story.”</p><p>“It’s important that we flag the local government units in that area to address illiteracy in their locality either by using their own resources or allocating national resources,” he added.</p><p>“We cannot just sit down and sleep well at night knowing that we have constituents who cannot read, write, and compute,” Gatchalian further said. “We need to break that cycle of poverty by injecting education.”</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>INTERVENTIONS</strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/174600672362920230706-ph-senate-gatchalian-SPRIB-4.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Sen. Win Gatchalian presides over the Committee on Ways and Means hearing on various measures seeking to impose value-added tax (VAT) on digital transactions Thursday, July 6, 2023. Joseph Vidal,  Senate PRIB/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Sen. Win Gatchalian presides over the Committee on Ways and Means hearing on various measures seeking to impose value-added tax (VAT) on digital transactions Thursday, July 6, 2023. <em>Joseph Vidal,  Senate PRIB/File</em></span></span></span></strong></div><p>Asked by Gatchalian how functionally illiterate students are able to graduate, Dr. Marilyn Siao, Director IV of the Department of Education (DepEd), said, “We are now reviewing our grading system, our assessment so that we can address this.”</p><p>Dr. Rosalina Villaneza, Chief Education Program Specialist of DepEd added, “We will be conducting beginning of school year assessment for PHIL-IRI which will guide us as to who are these learners who need intervention.”</p><p>PHIL-IRI or the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory is DepEd’s tool in assessing a learners’ reading level profile.</p><p>According to Villaneza, the reading ability of learners improved throughout the school year, but she also offered a suggestion.</p><p>“There is a need for us to train a reading teacher for secondary so that each of secondary school will have a reading teacher who will address the needs of these learners,” Villaneza said.</p><p>Enrico Mendoza, Project Development Officer V of DepEd’s Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) said they will capacitate more local government units (LGUs) in Mindanao in the coming months to have local literacy councils.</p><p>These councils ensure functional literacy and lifelong interventions and opportunities, but only 300 out of 1,600 local literacy councils have been operationalized.</p><p>The representative of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) did not know why this was so, and said they will coordinate with local governments to create the councils.</p><p>Some of Gatchalian’s recommendations include the easy access of DepEd’s Alternative Learning System, and for the DILG to mobilize support for LGUs.</p>

<p>More than 24 million Filipinos aged ten to 64 are functionally illiterate, while 5.8 million are basically illiterate, according to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian during Wednesday’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education.</p>

More than 24 million Filipinos aged ten to 64 are functionally illiterate, while 5.8 million are basically illiterate, according to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian during Wednesday’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education.

Over 24 million Filipinos functionally illiterate: Gatchalian | ABS-CBN

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Over 24 million Filipinos functionally illiterate: Gatchalian

Over 24 million Filipinos functionally illiterate: Gatchalian

Victoria Tulad,

ABS-CBN News

Published Apr 30, 2025 05:53 PM PHT

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Sherwin Gatchalian

Senate

basic education

PSA

Philippine Statistics Authority

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