The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday reported a dramatic drop in the number of struggling readers nationwide, attributing the turnaround to its intensified learning programs.
Data from DepEd show that the number of Grade 3 students classified as “low-emerging readers” plunged from 51,537 to just 1,871 across all regions, thanks to summer literacy campaigns such as the Learning Recovery Program (LRP) and the Bawat Bata Makababasa Program (BBMP).
In Northern Mindanao, the impact was especially remarkable, with the number of students able to read rising sharply from Grades 1 to 3:
- Grade 1 (Mother Tongue): 673 → 6,588
- Grade 2 (Filipino): 719 → 6,398
- Grade 3 (Filipino): 539 → 6,703
- Grade 3 (English): 355 → 5,100
Overall, the LRP boosted the reading skills of 50,000 learners, while the BBMP reached an additional 42,000 students.
DepEd said it is confident the progress can be sustained with the implementation of Republic Act No. 12028, or the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program Law, which will expand and institutionalize both the LRP and BBMP.
“Dahil sa mga hakbang ng Department of Education sa ilalim ng Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program, patuloy na nababawasan ang bilang ng mga mag-aaral na may kahirapan sa pagbasa,” DepEd said.
“Nagbunga ang mga summer reading initiatives tulad ng Bawat Bata Makababasa Program (BBMP) at Learning Recovery Program (LRP) na layuning bigyan ng pantay na oportunidad na matutong bumasa ang learners, lalo na iyong nangangailangan ng karagdagang suporta.”
The government ramped up reading programs after studies exposed alarming literacy gaps among Filipino students.