The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) said on Thursday that 87% of Grade 11 students are still struggling to read at grade level, underscoring persistent reading gaps among senior high school (SHS) students.
“87% of Grade 11 students are a big number that you want to [consider],” EDCOM 2 Chief Legal and Legislative Officer Simoun Antonio Salinas said during a House hearing.
“Only 12% of learners in the 11th Grade level are independent learners or readers that are fully able to comprehend or understand as expected from their grade level,” he added.
Citing results from the pilot run of the SHS Literacy Assessment last March, the commission reported that only 12.58% of students, or 186,433 students, have reached “Independent” or grade-level reading proficiency.
Meanwhile, 58.92% or 872,906 Grade 11 students are low-emerging and fall under the “Frustration” level, and 28.50% or 422,497 developing readers are at the “Instructional” level.
“28.5% and 58.9% is the most urgent numbers to be addressed,” Mr. Salinas said. “58.9% still feel frustration at not being able to achieve or present a learning outcome as intended.”
While EDCOM 2’s data is significantly high, the National Association of Public Secondary School Heads, Inc. (NAPSSHI) raised that the actual number of struggling SHS readers on grounds could reach up to 90%.
“It looks like it should be higher when compared to what’s actually happening on the field,” said Elma A. Panuncio, representative of NAPSSHI, in Filipino during the hearing.
Apart from Grade 11 students, Ms. Panuncio expressed apprehensions about the poor reading proficiency and literacy levels of incoming Grade 7 students.
“Out of the 100 students who enrolled in our school, those who can read and comprehend are less than 10 students,” she said. “These students have 90 and above grades but when you ask them about what they have read, they cannot explain it.”
Data from the Department of Education (DepEd) showed that nationwide reading outcomes have improved within the School Year (SY) 2025-2026. Independent readers have increased from 3.4 million to 7.6 million, while struggling readers have declined from 6.5 million to 3 million.
Despite the improvements, EDCOM 2 noted that around 1 million Grades 7 to 10 learners remained as frustrated readers by the end of SY 2025-2026.
DepEd’s Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) program was also linked to the reading gaps. EDCOM 2 flagged that 18% of 16.5 million learners remain at non-proficient reading levels after the first full year of the program’s implementation.
“There’s a need for us to understand that maybe DepEd can reconsider the design of the Strengthened Senior High School ARAL program,” Mr. Salinas said. — Almira Louise S. Martinez
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