PSA: 5.58M HS graduates lack comprehension skills

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said there are 5.58 million Filipino high school graduates who are “functionally illiterate,” referring to those who can read, write and compute, but lack comprehension skills.

The PSA made the clarification after previous reports placed the figure at 18.9 million Filipinos, which triggered calls for policymakers to come up with a national strategy to address the gravity of the situation.

READ: PSA study: 19M senior high school grads ‘functional illiterate’

In a statement on Tuesday, state statisticians said the figure that was reported following a Senate hearing on April 30 did not refer to functionally illiterate high school graduates, but to those who are “basically literate” (able to read, write and compute).

This was based on the PSA’s Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Study (Flemms) in 2024.

According to the PSA, “the estimated number of high school graduates, including junior high school completers 10 to 64 years old, who are basically literate but not functionally literate because of a lack of comprehension skills is 5.58 million in 2024.”

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate basic education committee, had said the problem of basic literacy was one of the factors behind the high poverty incidence in several provinces.

New definition

By his own estimate, using the PSA data and other available information, the senator said that as of last year, about 24.82 million Filipinos between the ages of 10 and 64 were considered functionally illiterate, or individuals who could read, write and compute but did not understand what they read.

Gatchalian, who is also the cochair of the Second Congressional Commission on Education, said another 5.86 million Filipinos belonging to the same age group were “basically illiterate,” or unable to read, write and compute.

The PSA had said that the latest survey, which it has been conducting every five years, changed the definition of functionally literate.

Before the 2024 Flemms, the PSA explained that the phrase only referred to individuals who can read, write and compute. However, it added comprehension as a basic skill for a person to be considered functionally literate. /cb/abc