The number of functionally illiterate Filipinos has nearly doubled in three decades, with the Department of Education (DepEd) struggling to focus on basic education amid its involvement in 261 interagency bodies, the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) reported.
Citing the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), EDCOM 2 said functional illiteracy rose to 24.8 million Filipinos, up from 14.5 million recorded in the 1990s. The Commission linked this persistent literacy problem to the Department’s “coordination spread thin,” as DepEd now chairs 20 interagency bodies and participates in dozens more jointly with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
EDCOM 2 recalled that the 1994 trifocalization of the former Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) into DepEd, CHED, and TESDA was meant to allow the Department to concentrate on basic education and reduce functional illiteracy.
“However, 30 years later, despite these structural reforms, literacy challenges persist and have even worsened,” the Commission noted.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara said DepEd’s broadened role across hundreds of government programs has limited its capacity to deliver core educational services.
“We’re seeing the effects of coordination spread thin,” he said during the October 31 EDCOM 2 hearing on DepEd’s charter.
EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee added that laws and executive orders over the years have expanded DepEd’s duties beyond instruction, forcing teachers to take on non-teaching work such as vision screening, coordinating Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) requirements, and disaster management.
“These additional roles have affected schools and teachers, taking time away from actual teaching,” Yee said.
The Commission warned that these overlapping responsibilities have aggravated teacher workload and contributed to poor learning outcomes, reflected in low literacy and numeracy scores nationwide.
To address the issue, DepEd said it is reorganizing participation in interagency councils and planning to hire more administrative staff to relieve teachers of clerical duties. Angara said the agency aims for “every public school to have at least one administrative officer by 2026.”
EDCOM 2 emphasized that addressing functional illiteracy requires realigning DepEd’s focus back to classroom instruction and ensuring adequate funding for learning programs. Many education laws, including those on the Alternative Learning System (ALS) and Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL), remain unfunded or underfunded.
“If we were to fully fund all of the laws on education, it would cost over a trillion pesos,” Angara said.
EDCOM 2 said it will continue reviewing how DepEd’s expanding mandates and under-resourced programs are undermining the government’s decades-long goal of achieving functional literacy for all Filipinos.
