Beyond basics: Addressing PH functional illiteracy problem

The recently released 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) presents a sobering picture of the state of literacy in the Philippines.

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While the basic literacy rate-defined as the ability to read and write-stands at a relatively high 93.1 percent among Filipinos aged 10 to 64, the more telling statistic is that only 70.8 percent are functionally literate. In other words, nearly three out of 10 Filipinos from pre-teens to late adulthood struggle to comprehend, process, and apply information in daily life-even if they know how to read, write, and compute.

This gap between basic and functional literacy, as further highlighted by the findings of EDCOM 2, translates to an estimated 18.2 million Filipinos who are functionally illiterate. These individuals may have attended school and completed various levels of formal education, but still lack the critical thinking and comprehension skills necessary to navigate everyday challenges, whether reading medication instructions, understanding a news article, or making sense of financial documents.