LOW AVERAGE IN LITERACY IN BICOL:

CAUSES AND INTERVENTIONS

The rate of literacy refers to the ability to sufficiently read and write. Many factors, such
as accessibility and quality of education, can contribute to these rates. This is one of the issues
faced by more than 70,000 elementary students in Bicol who cannot read in both English and
Filipino. According to DepEd, most Filipino students cannot identify the main idea in a piece of
text of moderate length and may have difficulty in making comparisons based in single features
of text. What can be the reasons of this issue and what interventions should be done to reduce or
eliminate this?

Many would wonder why this was brought up and maybe thinking if what is the reason
behind it. Lack of educational resources or materials could be the reason on why this is
happening. In some school, the distribution of books is not 1:1 ratio. With this insufficiency,
students who do not have book could not study properly especially when they are at home.
Another reason was the teachers who do not have skills to teach the proper way or manner of
reading. Teachers are being considered as the second parent that will teach the children well.
Also, with regards to the kindness of teacher, some of them will just let the children pass even
though the student did not meet the expectation or the need requirement just like having low
average in literacy but still they are promoted to next level. For the last reason, it can be the child
himself or herself who is having a hard time or difficulty in learning how to read. Willingness to
learn will also have an effect to the child’s reading capability. If the child is eager to learn, then
the child is helping himself or herself the best way he or she can how to read, unlike with those
children who are not willing to learn. With these reasons, some interventions could be done to
slowly help eliminate or reduce the number of students who have low average in literacy.
 There is always a solution in every problem. There are programs being implemented in
every school. Their aim is just to make every Filipino child able to communicate proficiently in
both English and Filipino through effective reading instruction. DepEd believes that every
learner should not left behind, thus, they visited some schools with high reading scores to
incorporate practices there in wider education reforms. One program that was launched by
DepEd is the “READ TO LEAD” which aims to develop better intervention practices, retrain
teachers on the subject and enhance existing reading programs. In case of children who are not
willing to learn how to read, their parents should give them motivations and parents should give
efforts so that their child will strive harder. With these solutions, it could help to lessen the
number of student who has low average in literacy. When the community and the individuals
within the community decided to help each other and inspire each and everyone to learn because
education is one of the keys to have successful life.