According to the Department of Education's March 2026 Senior High School literacy assessment, 1.3 million Grade 11 students nationwide are having difficulty understanding what they read.
According to Tina Panganiban-Perez’s report in “24 Oras” on Thursday, the latest figure came from the Department of Education ’s March 2026 Senior High School literacy assessment as presented by EDCOM 2.
The assessment revealed that 1.3 million out of 1.4 million Grade 11 students nationwide are having difficulty understanding what they read.
“Only 12% of learners in the 11th grade level are independent learners or learners or readers that are fully able to comprehend and understand as expected from their Grade level what the outcomes or the information is supposed to be,” said Simoun Antonio Salinas of EDCOM 2. Urban advantage falls short: NCR cities show high rates of struggling readers Out of that number, nearly six out of every ten students are at the"frustration level" — the lowest tier of literacy, where comprehension is virtually non-existent.
Meanwhile, nearly three out of ten students are at the"instructional level," meaning they still require teacher guidance to comprehend text. A party-list group of teachers blamed the problem on an educational system that allegedly rewards schools for mass promotions.
“Well, 'yan talaga ang nagpapakita nung kabuuang failure ng K-12 program. Systemic yung problema,” said ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio.
“Yung mga incentives at all levels, from the individual, from the teacher level to the school level hanggang sa buong sistema…para magtuloy-tuloy ang takbo ng sistema, kailangang ipasa,” he added. “Forty percent of all learners across all grade levels still struggle in terms of reading comprehension,” said Salinas. Education Secretary Sonny Angara was not at the hearing, but he highlighted a key strategy that shifts the focus to understanding rather than memorizing what you read.
“Aatakihin natin yung training ng ating mga teachers. Para yung training ng pagturo hindi lang pagme-memorize ng mga bagay, mas importante ang pag-intindi,” said Angara. DepEd just launched this month of May, the ARAL Program to support students struggling with reading, as well as those having a hard time with Math.
“Panahon na sabihin din sa atin ng DepEd, ‘Teka, bigyan niyo rin kami ng konting panahon, ma-adjust namin, hindi dapat kami mag-implement ng half-baked lang na hindi naman namin fully ma-implement nang tama,’” said House Committee on Basic Education and Culture Rep. Roman Romulo. This incoming school year also marks the start of the three-term school calendar. This means there will be three grading periods, allowing for longer intervals between exams.
“Whether three o four quarters, ang resolba po doon, kailangan nilang ayusin yung competencies at yung curriculum. Sobrang dami ba noong hinihingi sa kanilang gawin katulad ng competencies? ” said Romulo. But teachers are appealing to DepEd not to rush the implementation and instead pilot-test the new system in selected areas first.
“Hanggat maaari po sana, i-halt natin ang implementation. Kasi marami talaga ang kailangang ihanda. Pinaka-importanteng ihanda yung ating mga guro,” said Benjo Basas, chairperson of Teachers’ Dignity Coalition.
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