Congress urged to act on non-reader problem
TABUK CITY, Kalinga: A group of concerned citizens here are seeking a congressional investigation on the dismal performance of the Philippines in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), where it ranked last out of 79 countries in reading comprehension, in view of the problem of non-readers in high school.
master, said with the PISA results clearly showing that Filipino schoolchildren struggle with reading, there would be no reason for officials to sit on the requests for a probe regarding the problem.
He added that the results of the country in reading comprehension was unsurprising as the group was aware that for more than a decade now, the reading competence of students had been on an alarming decline and children who could hardly read had not been expected to do well in a reading test.
Aoas said the weakness also affected the performance of students in math and science because struggling readers could hardly be expected to understand the questions.
Signed by 15 residents and emailed on Sept. 3, 2019, the letter to the Basic Education committee of the House of Representatives urged the immediate conduct of a probe, considering that no less than state think tank Philippine
of non-readers in high school in its
Teachers and Implications on Qual
report and media accounts on the phenomenon, including the link of TV network GMA’s documentary
which featured the roomful of Grade 7 non-readers and frustrated readers at the Sauyo High School in Novaliche, Quezon City.
the plunging results of
National
Achievement Test (NAT), particularly in Grade 6, because, naturally, schoolchildren who cannot read or could barely read cannot compre
explaining that the Grade 6 NAT national average mean percentage
which they said was at the verge of level.
- ing facts: the score is less than half the 77 MPS target for 2016 and the
the concerned citizens said.
On Oct. 22, 2019, the group wrote a similar request to House Speaker
announced the intent of the House
They expressed hope that in the
come the reading crisis took a turn for the worse after the introduction of the new curriculum because there are now estimates that 10 percent of incoming Grade 7 students in public schools are either non-readers or are
They cited the observation that the curriculum does not emphasize reading because of the reduced time allocation for the teaching of the skill procedures, which in the past effectively aided the teaching of reading such as memorization, frequent spelling
On Nov. 18, 2019, in a letter signed by 98 residents and addressed to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, the group urged the Senate, especially the Basic Education Committee head
confront the reading crisis gripping
move is the awareness that we learned to read in English in Grade 1 and we see no reason why any normal Filipino child should not be successfully taught the same skill
They cited the admission of Undersecretary for Curriculum and
-
aware of the presence of non-readers in high school.
2019, a copy of which is enclosed, San Antonio wrote: ‘For example, the existence of nonreaders in high school, which you raised in your letter, does not go unnoticed by the department. In fact, alleviating such predicament right on the early stages of learning has been a foremost
They enumerated the reasons -
the problem:
– The presence of non-readers and frustration level readers in the secondary indicates that the Every Child a Reader Program (Ecarp), Philippine Informal Reading In
itself are failing.
the Ecarp is to make every child an independent reader by Grade 3 and the Phil-IRI, a nationally validated reading proficiency assessment tool, is intended to strengthen the implementation of the Ecarp. Implemented properly therefore, these programs would ensure no non-reader would get past Grade
of 2019, setting forth the policy
English is included among the com
– Children still learn to read in Grade 1 or even in kindergarten, majority are competent readers
cannot successfully teach reading to all mentally normal children at the grade prescribed by the curriculum when it was able to make them all read in Grade 1 in the past.
– There are no indications what
the problem without outside intervention and supervision because, in its pronouncements on the review
mentioned reading and has not
- tion to stop the practice of sending non-readers to high school.
In a follow-up letter to Gatchalian, the group said the country cannot be expected to do better in the PISA
- tion in the reading skill level of our
Aoas said during the previous administration, Senate Committee on Education Chairman Sen. Francis Escudero and several other senators were sent copies of media reports on the existence of non-readers in high school, but the chamber did not address the issue despite its conduct of a probe on the state of education then.
Aoas added that with the wake up call coming in the form of the dismal ranking of the Philippines in the PISA, the group is hoping that
problem.