The latest numbers from the Philippine Statistics Authority are depressing – 18.9 million Filipinos who completed secondary education in the last five years may be deemed functionally illiterate after all.
A change in the definition of literacy in the latest PSA Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Study – a national survey that gathers information on basic and functional literacy rates, as well as the educational skills qualification of the population, is key to the surge in numbers.
The old definition, used in the 2019 study, automatically deems high school graduates or junior high school completers as functionally literate.
The PSA, however, changed the definition of “functional literacy” in 2024 which now includes higher-level comprehension skills that go beyond basic reading, writing, and numeracy.
At a Senate hearing last week, a senator said there were approximately 5.8 million people who are not basically literate and 24.8 million who have problems comprehending.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, Chair of the Committee on Basic Education and Co-Chair of EDCOM, said he preferred the new definition because it gives a true picture of the gravity of the situation.
Basic literacy is easy to claim – an ability to read, write, or count would make someone literate in this manner. But actually understanding what was read, realizing what numbers mean, and even further, practicing critical thinking, are significantly more difficult tasks that cannot be acquired from a few sessions.
Instead, they must be practiced constantly, over the long term, with careful guidance from educators and families alike.
These numbers simply validate what many of us have suspected for a long time – that we are barely grazing the surface when it comes to meaningful learning. Our students are passing for the sake of moving up, despite not possessing the skills that are truly needed to show they have learned, if not mastered, what they are supposed to know.
And while it is easy to dismiss the failure to achieve satisfactory results in functional literacy as a result of a lack of drive, it would disregard the struggles faced by Filipino students who are not able to perform well because of structural ills like malnutrition, poverty, and the need to start earning a living at an early age. There are also countless overwhelming challenges in the education system.
Whatever the reason, our schools and educators must be empowered to deliver the kind of service that would enable our children to pick up the skills necessary to thrive despite the setbacks that threaten to hold them back.
Our people need functional literacy not only to land and keep jobs but also to navigate day-to-day life and engage in meaningful decision making. More importantly it provides good defense against the ills brought on by technology that prey upon people who don’t question what they see. Functionally literate people are less likely to be defrauded or taken advantage of, and they are also able to make healthy decisions not only for themselves but for their families, communities, and nations. They are less likely to believe in disinformation and more inclined to question and criticize instead of blindly following anybody’s bidding. They are better able to decide whom to vote for based on merit, and whom to reject for the lack thereof.
If we truly want to enable our people to make right choices, the achievement of critical thinking and functional literacy must be a priority.
