When Juan cannot read

Ispent almost the entire summer by working on the reading program of Valenzuela City. I brushed up on reading theories, held workshops with teachers, designed lesson plans, taught the lessons myself, designed the pre-and post tests, and helped analyze the results. The other Mayors were already teasing me that I was playing favorites. But I was convinced that I had to be fully immersed in the process to fully understand the problem. I had been taking the reading problem lightly until I realized how serious it has become. The number of nonreaders in many of the Synergeia sites both shocked and saddened me. More than 50 percent of the children failed in a simple examination that tested their skills on word recognition and comprehension. The problem must be systemic and requires solutions beyond the remedial reading programs that schools conduct. Mayor Rex Gatchalian raised the question that triggered our alarm system. Why is it that the number of non-readers grow every year despite the reading camps that the city sponsors every summer?

It is becoming apparent that the pre-occupation with the K-12 reform, the use of the mother tongue, and the changes in the curriculum have been too much for the system to absorb. An unintended consequence has been the neglect of the reading program. There have been too many adjustments to make, too many training programs for teachers to attend, and too many new things to learn. The principals shared that teachers are besieged with reports to make. This has limited their time for actual classroom instruction. The curriculum has been cramped with too many concepts for children to learn leaving very little time for mastery. The children have become the victims of a system that has been stretched too thinly.

Let's add to these the crumbling of basic institution called family. Parents spend little time at home to supplement instruction. Working parents, some of them abroad, have abandoned their responsibility of becoming co-teachers. Teachers observed that TV drama series, computers, and computer shops have become virtual nannies. Since children's access to them has been mostly unsupervised, they have become distractions instead of aids to learning.

Certainly, there are teacher factors. While there are many heroes among them, the are a sprinkle of those who look at teaching as a means to earn a living instead of a vocation. The needed passion to love and care for each child as a unique person is not there. Add to these the inadequacies in communication and pedagogical skills. Teachers may find difficulties ( as I do) in framing questions correctly, and expressing ideas using correct grammar and adequate vocabular

I have found out that it is not enough to surround children with books and thrill them with fairy tales and epics. They need to learn how to develop independent word recognition and comprehension, instead of learning by rote, i.e. " Children, read after me." Reading is a science and an art, and teachers need to take children through the processes of learning sounds, blending sounds to form words, and working with phonemes. Teachers need to develop skills in helping them understand new words through the use of contextual clues instead of translating them into their native dialects. We need teachers who will take them beyond the printed page to think of new beginnings and new endings.

So, it should be back to the basics for us---the 3 Rs, reading, (w)riting, and (a)rithmetic. While we were all sleeping, the reading skills of the children deteriorated. What is a high GDP or a basic education that has been lengthened if children are unable to read?

Let's strengthen our advocacy for the national government to give more focus and resources to making every Juan read. And let's continue to work with local government leaders who have their hearts and mind in the right places.

Valenzuela City is developing individual learning profiles of slow learners and will monitor their progress during the regular school year. Workbooks and journals have been developed so that children can practice their thinking skills. The Nanay-Teacher program will develop better reading skills of parents and will infuse them with more passion on responsible and loving parenting. More experiential capacity building and incentive programs are being planned for teachers. And, needs of special children like those with dyslexia and poor sight will be attended to. Mayor Rex says it well, "the needs of children are massive, but we will solve them one step at a time."

mguevara@synergeia.org.ph