Learning crisis that needs prompt attention

The signs of a learning crisis are clear.

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The numbers are no longer just alarming, they are damning. When only three in 10 Grade 3 students can read, count, and comprehend at expected levels, then further shrinking to one in five by Grade 6, and a woeful 0.47 percent by the time they reach Grade 12 or Senior High School, the problem is no longer about learning gaps. It is already a systemic failure, whether we admit it or not.

The findings of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) on the 2024 Early Language, Literacy, and Numeracy Assessment (ELLNA) and the National Achievement Test (NAT) should shake the nation, not because the results surprise us, but because they confirm what educators, parents, and employers have long known: the hemorrhaging potential of the Philippine basic education.