DepEd pledges action on SHS grads' functional illiteracy

DepEd vows to address 'functional illiteracy' among senior high school graduates following a Senate hearing last week.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) presented its 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), revealing that only 79 percent of SHS graduates in the K to 12 curriculum are functionally literate.

On Monday, May 5, the Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC) emphasized that systemic issues - not teacher performance - are at the core of the problem.

The TDC highlighted societal issues such as hunger, poverty, and inadequate school resources as contributing factors to the low levels of functional literacy.

Teachers are urged to be seen as part of the solution rather than blamed for the crisis, with the group stressing that narratives suggesting retraining teachers as a key solution are flawed.

DepEd plans to implement stronger interventions to curb the decline in functional literacy among Filipino senior high school graduates while addressing root problems including teacher demoralization and lack of learning materials.