Vargas bats for e-libraries amid low reading comprehension reports

MANILA, Philippines — The creation of digital libraries may provide a solution to reports of low reading comprehension among Filipino students even at the Grade 11 level, Quezon City Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas said on Thursday.

Vargas, in a statement said that he has been pushing for e-libraries, saying that his House Bills (HB) No. 3752 to 3765 seek to build computerized learning hubs for the 14 barangays under his jurisdiction, Quezon City’s fifth district.

The lawmaker said that his area can serve as the pilot test of the program, and if it is successful, the government can copy the formula to build e-libraries in every barangay in the country.

“We will initiate it in our district to show that it is a viable solution. Hopefully, the rest of Quezon City will also adopt it and later on the rest of the country,” Vargas said.

“We need to come up with concrete steps to support the lessons learned by our students from public schools. These e-libraries are cost-effective means to extend that support,” Vargas said.

Vargas’ suggestion came after the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2) said in a hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on basic education and culture on Thursday that 87 percent of Grade 11 students are not independent readers—or those who cannot understand what they have just read.

Edcom 2 chief legal officer, Atty. Simoun Salinas made a presentation regarding the implementation of the Department of Education (DepEd) Learning Recovery Program, or the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning Program (Aral), which aims to provide learning interventions during breaks to address skill gaps.

Salinas’ presentation highlighted concerns that the Aral program has not fully addressed the skills gap due to the lack of a policy to hire external tutors and students’ low attendance.

Near the end of his presentation, Salinas also said Edcom 2 believes DepEd “may need to rethink the design of Grade 12 under the Strengthened Senior High School” due to the high number of students who are not “independent readers.”

READ: Tinio: K-12 a failure as 87% of Grade 11 students struggle with reading

Vargas said that currently, going with traditional libraries made of concrete and filled with paper books may cost more money to build and maintain compared to e-libraries, which are flexible and oftentimes easier to manage.

According to Vargas, unlike regular paper books that can get torn, lost, or outdated, digital books last forever and can be updated instantly.

“In this manner, more students will benefit. Students will only spend more if they would each need to buy physical textbooks,” the lawmaker said.

Under Vargas’ bills, the e-libraries will have files, interactive programs, and reference papers that match the lessons being taught inside public school classrooms. Students can easily walk from their school to the barangay e-library to do their homework, research for reports, and improve their vocabulary.

“We are confident that the pilot e-library in our district will be effective. Once we prove that, we hope to see this replicated across every district in the country to ensure no Filipino child is left behind in reading,” he added.

In an ambush interview after the hearing, committee chairperson and Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo urged DepEd to put its focus on addressing reading comprehension problems first, instead of adopting new policies and listening to the different suggestions of stakeholders.

Romulo said that DepEd might have to go back to the basics and solve the reading comprehension woes of students first.

READ: DepEd urged to focus on students’ reading comprehension

In a separate interview, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said that while the problems with Grade 11 students’ reading comprehension are due to a mix of factors, it only shows that the K-12 system—which added two more years to the basic education setup by having Grades 11 and 12—was not able to solve dwindling proficiency and skill.

According to Tinio, there has been a prevalence of incidents where students are allowed to be promoted to the next grade level even if they do not meet the qualifications or minimum competencies required—hence the existence of students old enough to be first-year college students in the old system, who cannot understand what they read.

The K-12 program was initiated during the time of former President Benigno Aquino III, as one problem before the said system’s implementation was that Filipino workers lacked two years of basic academic experience.

This is because a lot of countries operate on a 13-year pre-university program—one year for kindergarten, six years of elementary school, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high. This is the same system that was adopted by the Philippines.

But over the years, there have been calls for the revamp of the K-12 system as some experts believe the additional two years did not address the bad performance of Filipino students compared to their neighboring countries.

A United Nations Children’s Fund report in 2023 stressed the need to “harness the potential” of early childhood education as it was discovered that in Southeast Asia alone, the Philippines’ Grade 5 students’ reading and math skills were second-worst, even behind war-torn Myanmar.

READ: Southeast Asia rank: PH 2nd to worst in Grade 5 students’ reading, math skills

In December 2023, the Program for International Student Assessment (Pisa) said that Filipino students who took part in their assessment were five to six years behind in mathematics, science, and reading compared to their 15-year-old counterparts from most of the participating countries. /cb