EQUALLY important is improving the alignment between what future teachers learn and what they actually teach. EDCOM 2 found that 62% of high school teachers are teaching subjects outside their college specialization. This is not a minor clerical error — it is a systemic flaw.
How can a Physical Eduation major suddenly teach Chemistry without enough training or time to adjust? It’s like asking a tricycle driver to fly a plane. There’s bravery, sure, but not necessarily safety.
The solution is not just in hiring more teachers but in hiring the right ones. The Department of Education (DepEd) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) must work together to match teacher supply with curricular demand. We need to post specific job listings — “Grade 6 Math Teacher” — not just the generic “Teacher I.” It’s a logistical change, yes, but it’s also a moral one.
Even our most promising students are not spared. EDCOM 2 revealed that only 1.03% of our best and brightest receive government support, far below what China (3%) or even Australia (10%) provides.
Half of those who qualify for Philippine Science High School are turned away due to a lack of slots. What kind of country neglects its gifted youth and then wonders why brain drain happens?
Support must be holistic. Offer full scholarships, mentorships, enrichment classes, and not just for STEM students. Talents grow where there is light — and in education, light often means attention and investment.
Infrastructure remains another elephant in the classroom. As of late 2024, 1,500 schools still have no electricity, and 1,000 have no toilets. These are not just numbers. These are children learning to read by flashlight, girls skipping school during their period because there’s no clean bathroom, teachers using payong to shield books from leaky ceilings.
There is something deeply wrong when malls are built in weeks while schools take years to finish. Instead of building more classrooms the same way we did 20 years ago, why not use modular and prefabricated designs? EDCOM 2 suggests this already. If mid-rise buildings can rise for condos, why not for classrooms?
Literacy is not just about reading books. It is about having books to read. The Matatag curriculum, with all its good intentions, has struggled to deliver even half of the promised textbook titles. Imagine implementing a new curriculum with no teaching guides, no learner’s modules, and no digital backup.
Teachers are not magicians. And yet, many rise above the chaos, printing materials from their own salaries, recycling old worksheets, even narrating stories from memory. That is grit. That is sacrifice. But grit should not be an excuse for systemic neglect. Let us allow teachers to teach by removing the red tape and giving them real tools.
This brings us to the most difficult truth: education needs money, and our government has not been giving enough. For over a decade, the Philippines has only allocated an average of 3.2% of its Gross Domestic Product to education, well below the global standard of 4% to 6% (UNESCO, 2015).
Some may argue that money is not everything, and they are right. But money means roofs that do not leak, books that do not fall apart, and teachers who do not moonlight as encoders to make ends meet. We do not need to throw money at the problem. We need to direct it wisely. Increase funding where it matters most: early childhood education, teacher training, and community-based literacy initiatives.
This crisis may be complex, but it is not beyond repair. We have seen public school teachers create mini-libraries from recycled materials, student leaders tutor their classmates for free, and mayors provide daily feeding programs out of their own funds. These are not grand reforms. They are human ones.
And perhaps that is where hope lives — in small but sincere acts of care. Much like the formation work we experience in Jesuit or community-centered schools, the call is not just to learn but to become. To form persons who are competent, compassionate, and committed to the common good. No system, no matter how broken, is beyond repair if people still believe in its worth.
To rebuild literacy in the Philippines is not just a technical challenge. It is a moral one. If we believe that every child is worth teaching, then every drop of effort — every hour spent reading aloud, every module revised for clarity, every class held under a mango tree — matters. The crisis is real, yes, but so is the courage of those facing it head-on.
What we need now is not a miracle, but a movement — one that starts with listening, continues with investing, and ends with children who can read, write, and dream. If we want a future that makes sense, we must first ensure our students can understand the present. Because in a nation where children cannot read, the future is not just delayed — it is denied./PN
