As we enter our classroom doors this June, we do not simply welcome students back — we step once again to the reality of our nation’s future. Behind the routine ring of school bells, there is a deafening silence: our students return not only to study but to a system still struggling with the silent crisis of literacy.
The recently released results from the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority serve as a reflection that our education is in crisis.
This is not new. This is not a surprise. I have seen this in the last 15 years that I spent inside the classroom. However, I must acknowledge that the Department of Education (DepEd) is doing its best to address this.
DepEd is implementing a comprehensive package of reforms. One key to this effort is the decongestion of the curriculum through the MATATAG program. In addition, DepEd is revisiting its grading and retention policies to move away from the culture of mass promotion and ensure that student assessments genuinely reflect learning progress. The department is also implementing targeted literacy-focused programs, such as Bawat Bata Bumabasa, Literacy Remediation and the ARAL Program that have been launched to provide direct support to struggling readers.
Beyond classroom instruction, the government is making crucial investments in early childhood education, nutrition and aligning teacher education curricula and licensure exams.
These foundational efforts are reinforced by measures to reduce teachers’ administrative workload and ensure that each school has a principal.
However, most of these are still ongoing programs that are still to be evaluated. The evaluation process is as important as the installation.
But the literacy crisis should not fall on DepEd’s shoulders alone. I believe that this is a shared responsibility.
I see potential that some local government units (LGUs) in the country are taking part in solving the crisis by prioritizing literacy programs in their projects.
One of these is Project Teaching Opportunities Prioritizing Illiteracy, recognized as one of the 10 standout initiatives selected from LGUs nationwide in the prestigious 2024 Galing Pook Awards.
The project of LGU Cabagan, Isabela was launched in 2018 to address illiteracy in underserved communities while also providing employment opportunities for licensed professional teachers.
Through funding from the Department of Labor and Employment’s Government Internship Program and LGU Cabagan, the project supports the DepEd in conducting reading sessions for struggling learners identified through assessments, such as the Revised Philippine Informal Reading Inventory and Early Grade Reading Assessment.
Also, the project provides special support for families with children who have special needs while increasing community awareness and participation in achieving quality education for all.
This initiative is a testament that the education crisis cannot be solved by DepEd alone.
The teachers can only do so much either.
While illiteracy is connected to other perennial problems of our nation, its solution also lies in the power of varied stakeholders’ interconnected initiatives.
This posed a bigger challenge to the newly elected local and national leaders to stray away from merely concentrating on social media propaganda. This is the high time to create sustainable literacy projects that go beyond slogans and speeches.
We do not have much time. As Karol Mark Yee, the executive director of the Second Congressional Commission on Education states, “This functional literacy crisis is a challenge to our national survival.”