Manila: About 4.5 million struggling learners have improved in literacy and numeracy under the government's learning recovery efforts in the basic education system, the Department of Education (DepEd) said on Wednesday. In a statement, Education Secretary Sonny Angara emphasized the agency's commitment to advancing learning recovery and remediation measures, even from foundational learning, to ensure the employability of future graduates.
According to Philippines News Agency, this initiative aligns with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s directive to prioritize learners' welfare alongside advancing quality education in the Philippines. Education Secretary Angara stated, "Our goal is to strengthen the entire learning recovery pipeline, from the earliest grades through senior high [school], so that early literacy success translates into lasting proficiency and genuine readiness for the world beyond graduation."
The improved proficiency levels at the end of the school year were reported based on the results of the Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (CRLA), Rapid Math Assessment (RMA), and the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) for School Year 2025-2026. For struggling readers, the number of learners decreased to 2.2 million from 6.7 million at the onset of the school year. This group includes students needing immediate intervention in areas such as phonemic awareness, decoding, and simple narrative comprehension.
Significant improvement was noted among struggling readers in Grades 1 to 3, with a 33 percent increase; followed by a 28 percent increase in Grades 7 to 10, and a 16 percent increase for Grades 4 to 6. 'Grade-level ready' readers, or those capable of independent text engagement, rose to 5.8 million from 3.3 million for the same period.
In Mathematics, the number of 'not or low proficient' learners almost halved, dropping to 6.8 million from 13 million across all grade levels. There was a 46 percent decrease in 'emerging learners' in Math among Grades 1 to 3, a 44 percent drop in Grades 4 to 6, and an 18 percent drop in Grades 7 to 10.
Angara pledged to sustain existing interventions, especially at the secondary level. "We will continue to refine these interventions to ensure that the progress we see in the early years is sustained through the secondary levels, equipping our high school learners with the analytical skills they need for the future," he said. The education chief also highlighted the need to advance quality instruction in classrooms, particularly with the upcoming shift to a three-term school calendar.
