Claim that Bicol has 70,000 'non-readers' not backed up by official data —DepEd Usec.

The claim that the Bicol region has over 70,000 students who are 'non-readers' is not backed up by official data, an official of the Department of Education (DepEd) said on Wednesday.

"'Yung data na 'yan, mga 10,000 yata diyan ang galing sa PHIL-IRI. 'Yung iba, tool na hindi naman dinevelop ng DepEd," Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said in an interview on GMA News' Unang Balita.

He reiterated that the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (PHIL-IRI)—where the 70,000 figure was attributed to by another report—only covers Grades 3 to 6 in the Filipino category and Grades 4 to 6 in English.

"Sa ibang grades, 'yung Grades 1 hanggang 'yung higher grades natin sa high school, wala tayong tool na ginagamit," San Antonio said.

Earlier this week, it was reported that around 76,000 students in Bicol are "struggling readers."

Education Secretary Leonor Briones on Monday took exception to the said report, calling it “exaggerated.” She said not knowing how to read was different from being illiterate.

“At saka iyong number siguro na 70,000, medyo exaggerated iyan dahil hinalo iyong nahihirapan sa Filipino, nahihirapan sa English tapos umabot sa 70,000 kung saan iyon nanggagaling,” she added.

The DepEd-Bicol has already clarified that the figure reported by another news outlet was from initial and unvalidated data from the Schools Division Offices in the region at the beginning of school year 2019-2020.

It also affirmed that "there is no standard tool yet for assessing the reading abilities of pupils in Kinder up to Grade 2 and Grade 7 to Grade 12."

"Hindi talaga fair na sabihing non-readers lahat ng 76,000 na 'yan. Na-generalize," San Antonio said.

He added that the diagnostic test PHIL-IRI enables teachers to determine the reading ability of their students for proper intervention.

Learners are categorized into three groups: (1) frustration level, (2) instructional level, and (3) independent level readers.

"'Yung mga words hindi niya mabasa nang mabilis, may mga miscues siya, 10% lang na mali frustration level na kaagad siya for that grade," San Antonio said.

He stressed that it is the goal of the DepEd to improve the reading skills of their learners every school year.

"Concern talaga siya na dapat itong mga batang ito na considered frustration level readers pagkatapos ng school year ay maging instructional readers at least," he said.

"Base po sa aming mga datos, 'yung 2018-2019, mga kalahati ng na-a-assess na frustration level ay naiaangat sa mas mataas na antas ng pagbabasa," he added. —Dona Magsino/KG, GMA News