Gatchalian urges DILG to mandate LGUs to establish literacy councils

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian reported during a Senate Committee on Basic Education hearing on Wednesday, April 30, that over 24 million Filipinos aged 10 to 64 are functionally illiterate based on revised criteria by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS).

The new data shows approximately 5.8 million Filipinos cannot read, write with understanding or compute, while functional literacy under the revised metrics fell to 79 percent among senior high school graduates.

On Friday, May 2, Gatchalian urged the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to mandate local government units (LGUs) to establish local literacy coordinating councils that will implement effective literacy programs.

DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara vowed stronger interventions including remedial programs and the use of data in schools to improve functional literacy among learners, while Gatchalian emphasized a shift from memorization towards critical thinking skills to better prepare students for the future.

The latest FLEMMS findings also revealed that around 21% of senior high school graduates cannot effectively comprehend simple text, highlighting a significant gap in basic education.