The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Tracy Cabrera
BATASAN HILLS, Quezon City — Some 5.58 million high school graduates are considered currently as being ‘functionally illiterate’ or having problems in comprehension and understanding, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In a statement, House committee on basic education and culture chairman Roman Romulo of the Lone District of Pasig City cited that the 5.58 million individuals who still couldn’t understand what they read, even with a high school diploma, should be a cause of concern for the government, particularly the education sector.
However, the Department of Education (DepEd) has pointed out that the 18.9 million Filipinos considered as ‘functionally illiterate’ based on the results of the 2024 functional literacy, education, and mass media survey (FLEMMS) came from a much broader age group, and were not only high school graduates.
“These people who are functionally illiterate can read, write and compute, but struggle with comprehension, regardless of their educational attainment,” DepEd clarified.
It said that of the 18.9 million, over 13 million people were not able to finish junior or senior high school at the very least.
“It doesn’t make the picture any better because ibig sabihin, iyong 13 million tinatanggal niyo lang, gusto niyo lang sabihin na hindi kasi nag-graduate ng high school iyan—pero pwedeng dumaan hanggang Grade 9, Grade 8 . . . So, it’s not reflective of a quality education being given by DepEd,” Romulo stressed.
“Again, 5.5 million pa rin ang nakapagtapos ng senior high school or high school na hindi maka-comprehend ng binabasa…5.5 million pa rin iyon, malaki pa rin. Gusto niyo lang sabihin sa’min na iyong 13 million, hindi kasi nakapag-tapos pero pwedeng nag-aral iyon,” he continued.