Functionally illiterate

SKETCHES

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

Long before the pandemic, people have already been lamenting the progressive deterioration in the quality of Philippine education. The inability to grasp the magnitude of the problem could partly be a reflection of this problem.

But more than this inability, we are cursed with a relentless string of selfish, crooked public officials whose political and family fortunes are anchored on keeping the majority of Filipinos illiterate, poor and dependent on government handouts.

The results of the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) should not be a big surprise. The FLEMMS findings tracked the outcomes of the first two instances when our country participated in the Program for International Student Assessment.

Those two PISA rounds showed 15-year-old Filipino high school students ranking at the bottom among peers from about 70 other participating countries in terms of competencies in mathematics, science and reading comprehension.

High-level comprehension is what sets apart functional from basic literacy, under the new definitions of literacy as measured by the PSA. On top of basic literacy—the ability to read, write and perform basic math—the functionally literate can apply these skills to daily life and practical uses.

At least the basic literacy rate in the country is at 90 percent. But that still leaves 10 percent of our people who are, literally, no read, no write. And a functional literacy rate of only 70 percent translates into about 15 million Filipinos lacking the comprehension levels needed for the nation to survive, thrive and excel in a highly competitive global environment.