by Serry Vicente S. Arnuco Jr.
Reading continues to be one of the biggest problems of the country’s educational system.
This challenge has been seriously felt almost in all schools, especially now that we are just starting to recover from the effects of this pandemic to the schooling of our children and the full blast of face to face classes is past approaching.
For the past two years, our children are struggling to learn all by themselves because not all of them had somebody to guide them while studying. And just because there is an absence of formal schooling, children’s education was temporarily halt.
Furthermore, studies revealed that the reading abilities of most of students nowadays falls under frustration level which means that such students were poor in word recognition and comprehension as well.
And so, to address these challenges as regard to the student’s ability to read, annual assessments and conduct of the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (PHIL-IRI) in schools continues. However, one finding also points out that one of the root causes of the growing number of frustration and non -readers is the congested curriculum, meaning that there are so many competencies taught to students instead of attending first to the issue of reading and reading literacy in schools.
It was once said by our Former Undersecretary for Curriculum and instruction, Sir Diosdado San Antonio, that we can never pursue quality education if the kids do not know how to read. He further explained that we can never expect a Filipino or any human being to continue to learn without actually being equipped with the fundamental reading skills and that as educators we must fix the children’s reading first and the rest will follow.
Given this, DepEd continues its initiatives for enrichment of reading programs. They had double their efforts to solve the learning gaps in education particularly in the area of reading. They were also seeking the support of the parents and stakeholders to address the problem and ensure the advocacy of the institution that is; Every child must be a reader.
