Nationwide literacy, education survey get more funds from Senate

The Senate Committee on Finance has agreed to channel more funds for the implementation of the Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS).

FLEMMS is a nationwide household-based survey that gathers information on basic and functional literacy rates, and educational skills qualifications.

The Senate finance panel increased the budget for FLEMMS upon the request of Sen. Sherwin

Gatchalian. Under the panel’s committee report on the proposed 2024 national budget, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) will receive ͊ˑˏ˗̍˘˖̟Ŀģķķģŋł ĕŋũ ŶĞĀ Ģŀťķāŀāłtation of the FLEMMS.

It will be 254.3 percent higher ŶĞÖŁ ŶĞĀ ͊˔˗̍˘̟Ŀģķķģŋł Žłùāũ ŶĞĀ National Expenditure Program (NEP) and the General Appropriations Bill (House Bill No. 8980).

Initially, Gatchalian proposed Öł Öùùģŷģŋłöķ ͊ː˕ˏ̟Ŀģķķģŋł ĕŋũ ŶĞĀ implementation of the FLEMMS next year. During the hearing on the proposed budget of the PSA, Gatchalian raised the possibility of making the data more granular by conducting the survey all the way to the city level.

“This will help the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) to identify areas where we have high illiteracy rates, so we can launch programs that will improve education outcomes in those places,” Gatchalian said.

“I’m sure that the data and information collected through the FLEMMS will be put to good use by the EDCOM,” he added.

Gatchalian, who currently heads the Senate Committee on Basic Education, had also proposed the regular conduct of a FLEMMS survey, noting that the last study was conducted in 2019, the sixth in the series that started in 1989.