G
Pupils'problern not
literacy but reading
comprehension-DePEd
By Leila B. Salaverria
and Meg Adonis
@Team_Inquirer
The problem in Bicol is not
about literacy but about read-
ingcomprehensior! Education
Secretary Leonor Briones said
on Monday, as she sough! to
corlect and clariry an Inquirer
report saying that some 7o,ooo
students in the region could not
read in both English and Filipi-
no.
Briones said this did not
mean that the Bicol learners
were illiterate or were "no
read, no write."
"Not knowing how to read
is diferent from being illite-
rate," she said at a press brief-
ing in Malacaiang.
Of the "nonreaders" in Bi-
col, r8,r43 are pupils in Grades 3
to 6, according to data released
last week by Grace Rabelas, ed-
ucation superuisor for curricu-
lum and learning management
director of the Department of
Education (DepEd) Bicol. The
rest are in Grades 1 to 2.
. The data were based on re-
sults of pretests administered
in July and Augustlast Year bY
thd Philippine Informal Read-
ing inventory (Phil-IRI), an
ihitiative of the department's
Bureau of Elerirentary Educa-
t.ion.
"ficking time bomb'
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda ex-
pressed alarm at the report that
tens of thousands of elementa-
ry students in his region could
not read, calling the situation a
"ticking time bomb" that would
have wider implications on the
economy if left unchecked.
"ior all our talk of the ide- standing of reading materials is
mographic dividend,' if young appropriate to their grade, ac-
Filipioos .a.u not properly cording to Briones.
skillecl and properly educat- she said the DepEd assess-
ed, if they cannot apply what's ment was conducted not iust in
in their books in practical ev- Bicol, but in the entire country'
eryday life, then we shall have The collected data are still be-
failed-as a country" he said in a ing analyzed, she said.
statement.
' "Wewill not be able to com- 'Difficult' to release results
pete in the next generation," Nepomuceno Malaluan,
said salceda, the chair of the education und€rsecretary and
House ways and means com- chief of staff, said it would be
mittee. "difrcult" to release the results
Briones said the use of the of the pretests administered
words "do not know ho$' to by Phil-IRI, as the study did
read" did not mean no read, not use any standardized tools
no write. "There are those who to measure \ ' students'
reading
can read but could not compre- abilitles.
hend. There are difierent lev- DepEd ofrcials clarified,
els," she explained. however, that they were not
She said the statement that withholding information from
the 7o,ood students who suP- the public in'their refusal to re-
posedly could not read in Bi- lease nationwide results.
col was "exaggerated" because "Thi3 is a teacher-'adminis-
they included those having dif- tered test, unlike the standard-
ficulty with English and with ized National Achievement Test
Filipino. that students are required to
There are students who can take ... The pretests in schools
readbut not understand certain are all different that's whY
' wor'ds, she said. while we do have the data, it
would be difficult to put these
'Insult to Bicolanos' (results) out," Malaluan told re- '
Briones noted that the porters.
number of nonreaders was less He added that DePEd did
than 5 percent of the student not feel confident in releasing
population. the information because the
"As I said earlier, itwas a bit lack of standardized measur-
of an insult to Bicolanos to say ing tools meant that the results
that there are 7o,ooo illiterates could not be used for analysis
walking around in Bicol. I don't and future policy implementa-
think that's totally accurate be- tion.
cause we're.looking at different
levels," she said. Staggering economic cost
DepEd's annual assessment Salceda said the economic
of students is meant to test cost for every nonliterate learn-
the level of comprehension of. er could be staggering.
what they read and to find out "On average, the rates of
whether their level of under- return to education go as much
{IpAG€ _ &&,
 says her department's annu-
READING COMPREHENSION Education secretary Leonor Briones
,t of is meant to test the level of their reading comprehension and- u-nder-
""a"""r"n, "tudents materials appropriate to their grade' "Not knowing how to read is different
"triai.s
irorn "it"rJi"g
U"ins itliter"t!," she said at a press briefing in Malacafiang on Monday' -JoAN BoNDoc

, p".."rr, per year of high world. "Too many subiects' Too which showed that the Philip-
", many activities' ilot enough re- pines scored lowest in reading
school, and up to 22 percent per
ofcollege," he said, sults." comprehension' and second to
,*il;;;;h;
year
is pushing
cannot nnisir The lawmaker the lowesr in math and science,
,.n*t- u"."ur" they are not for a package ofbills, inctuding among 79 countlies and econo-
ilr".iio"afy [terate:will likely those that empower teachers mies-
;;;;;.;"t;ent of what a by reducing thelr workload.' es- Briones said the review was
io1ege degiee:holder earns, on tiblish a u-niversal free school
accelerated because of the Pisa
hi said. meal program, and bolster.ed- results'
- -;,d"'irr"
averale,
aggregate, if the ucation i-nfrastructure and fi- one of the findings was that
rate of latent illiteracy were nancing. the curriculum was too con-
ih" ru-" for all regions, we gested' meaningtoo many com-
could be forgoing up to 2 per- K-rz curriculun review petencies were being taught to
cent of national income every Briones said DepEd's re- the students' she said'
year by the time these stu- viewof the K-rz curriculumwas Education Undersecretary
i"ntr i,u.t working. This is expected to be completed by Diosdado San Antonio said the
rJgg"ti"g," said s;lceda, an Mirch 3o' The review was con- number of subiects would not
economist.
---lr" ducted amid concerns that the necessarily be trimmed'
,,be_ curriculum was not responsive what would be reduced
lr"ai DepEd for
"o ithe reading
ing non".i ufoot to the students'needs' would be the competencies
aimensi'oos." height- within a certain subiect, he said
The concerns were
-
piiUtem's1
said Filipino stu- ened by the release of results "This would be sothat we coulc
salceda
dentsandteachersweredongoftheProgramforlntenation.focusoncriticalcompetencies.,
tlle most overworked iq the al Student Assessment (Pisa)' -wlrH a REPqRT FRoM Dr YAP INa