Catch up Fridays: Vital initiative in raising education quality

Last week, on January 12, the Department of Education (Deped) launched Catch-up Fridays, a program “to strengthen foundational, social, and other relevant skills necessary to realize the objectives of the basic education curriculum.”

The program title conveyed in three words a problem that will affect the next generation – a lack of learning competency which starts from being unable to read and understand age-appropriate texts. The “learning poverty” problem was seen in the dismal performance of the Philippines in the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) which has been discussed many times by legislators, educators and opinion leaders.

Catch-up Fridays is intended to bridge the learning gap. The program aims to bolster the basic education priorities in the MATATAG Agenda and accelerate the achievement of education targets outlined in the National Learning Recovery Program (NLRP).

Through the initiative, Deped expects the students' abilities in reading, critical thinking, analytical, and writing will be enhanced.

As a start, for the whole month of January, the sessions will focus on the “Drop Everything and Read (DEAR)” activity which was also part of the National Reading Month activities in November last year. The DEAR session was supported by other activities to develop a love for the reading habit, if not a value for reading as a basic tool for learning. Among them were the “Read-a-thon” sessions where students related stories about favorite books, listening to a “book ambassador” read a story, and share-a-book fairs.

Now, Catch-up-fridays will follow-up the reading programs with more specific targets primarily focused on strengthening reading skills, and also values, health and peace education.

The enthusiasm to bridge the learning gap, though, should not over-crowd Catch-up Fridays with too many topics that nurturing the reading habit may not have enough time to blossom. According to reports, half of the day's schedule will “focus on operationalizing the National Reading Program (NRP) while fostering values, health, and peace education for the second half.” Homeroom guidance program will also be included in the program.

According to Deped Memorandum No. 001 series of 2024, all Fridays throughout the school year are designated as Catch-up Fridays.

The initiative to encourage students’ interest in reading is not a new Deped program. It was established through a Deped memorandum signed in 2011, which included an Araw ng Pagbasa (Reading Day) declared as a regular working holiday by Republic Act No. 10556 signed in 2012 “to support “endeavors that promote reading and literacy, motivate awareness and uphold our Filipino heritage and culture.”

Deped said its current initiatives provide opportunities to enhance the students’ academic performance, particularly the “low proficiency levels in reading based on national and international large-scale assessments.”

This can be achieved not only through the programs of Deped, but also needs the participation of the private sector. Book donations to schools for the DEAR program and volunteers who can be “book ambassadors” to read stories to students are among the areas that need private sector support.

Reading is a productive habit, it leads one to learn more, understand concepts, upgrade one’s skills, make better choices, and benefit from a better job – and it results in more productive citizens.