DepEd assures interventions to address 'learning poverty'

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday said it laid out interventions to address the "learning poverty" issue in the Philippines, which is at 90% according to a recent World Bank study.

According to the DepEd, it is "proactively" dealing with the learning poverty issue in the country even before the pandemic started.

"Amidst the public health situation, we carried on to roll out our reforms in the curriculum, the learning environment, and the teacher professional development through our Sulong EduKalidad campaign. We are also preparing for our participation in the upcoming international assessments to closely evaluate our efforts," read the statement.

"The issue of learning poverty has been a dilemma of the country for years and the Department is proactively dealing with it for the long term," it added.

In a World Bank study released last November 16, it indicated that learning poverty, which is the failure to read and understand a simple text by age 10, in the Philippines reached 90%. 

Its report, titled "Remote Learning During COVID-19: Lessons from Today, Principles for Tomorrow," also showed that take-up of remote learning among schoolchildren was only 20% in the Philippines, which is the lowest rate alongside Ethiopia.

"According to the data as of March 2021, take-up of remote learning greatly varies by country, ranging from as high as 100 percent of children engaging in remote learning since school closures in Bulgaria to 52 percent in Burkina Faso, to as low as 20 percent in Ethiopia and the Philippines," read the study.

Reacting to these reports, DepEd said it launched programs such as the Bawat Bata Bumabasa (3Bs) initiative which directs their field offices to create "contextualized approaches to increase reading proficiency among learners."

Also, DepEd said implemented the Every Child a Reader Program (ECARP) which integrates strengthened initiatives on Early Language, Literacy and Numeracy Program (ELLN), Mother Tongue-Based of Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE), and Pedagogical Retooling in Mathematics, Languages, and Science (PRIMALS).

For the next administration, DepEd also said it set up an education development plan to help in improving education quality in the country.

"With the objectives of the Sulong EduKalidad campaign and Basic Education Development Plan (BEDP) 2030 set to materialize in the coming years, we are leaving behind a worthy mission to continue for the next DepEd administration," the education department said.

"We have come a long way in our quest for quality education but we are not yet done with our journey. Our efforts must be consistent, cohesive, and collaborative for us to achieve in delivering quality education to every Filipino child," it added.—LDF, GMA News