The Department of Education’s (DepEd) 2025 summer Literacy Remediation Program (LRP) significantly improved reading proficiency among Grade 3 students previously classified as “Low Emergent Readers,” according to the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2).

Citing DepEd’s latest report, EDCOM 2 said that 96 percent of the 49,957 learners who participated in the intensive 18-day reading intervention moved up from the lowest literacy level.

Only 1,827 students remained at that level following the program, while 8,300 advanced to the Grade 3 reading benchmark—effectively ready for Grade 4, where English becomes the primary medium of instruction.

EDCOM 2 thanked DepEd for rolling out a “well-targeted literacy remediation program focusing specifically on Key Stage 1—the most critical period during which our students develop foundational skills.”

“It targets precisely what EDCOM 2 has long fought for: fixing the foundations of our education system, especially literacy and numeracy in Key Stage 1,” said EDCOM 2 Executive Director Dr. Karol Mark Yee.

In line with President Marcos’ call to urgently address learning loss, DepEd—under Education Secretary Sonny Angara—scaled up its summer learning programs last May through the implementation of four flagship initiatives: the Bawat Bata Makababasa Program (BBMP), Literacy Remediation Program (LRP), Summer Academic Remedial Program, and Learning Camp (LC).

These programs are central to DepEd’s comprehensive education recovery plan, which prioritizes inclusive instruction, community engagement, and learner well-being to ensure that no child is left behind.

The LRP is one of DepEd’s summer programs aimed at rebuilding foundational skills among learners across grade levels.

It focused on more than 60,000 low-performing Grade 3 learners identified from over 1.7 million assessed at the end of School Year (SY) 2024–2025.

These students struggled with basic phonics and reading comprehension at the Grade 1 level.

Program highlights included small group instruction with a 1:12 teacher-learner ratio; two-hour daily sessions, four days a week, over four weeks; evidence-based strategies for phonics, word recognition, and comprehension; and training for teachers and school leaders on diagnostic and remediation techniques.

DepEd reported that 49,446 learners mastered letter sounds, and over half of all participants could read and comprehend short passages by the end of the program, according to EDCOM 2.

EDCOM 2 noted that teachers also praised the program’s structure—especially the smaller class sizes and dedicated instructional time—conditions they say are hard to achieve during the regular school year due to classroom congestion and the previously overloaded curriculum.

DepEd has since begun rolling out the decongested MATATAG curriculum for Kinder to Grade 3 in June 2025.

“The LRP initiative boosts our confidence that, while we face a learning crisis, there are indeed tried and tested solutions that could help guide our efforts,” Yee said. “This shows us that every child can read, as long as we give them the support to do so,” he added.

EDCOM 2 urged DepEd to integrate successful elements of the LRP into the ARAL Program, which is set to continue supporting struggling learners year-round.

“We hope that the success of LRP is sustained in DepEd’s implementation of the ARAL Program—not just during the summer, but throughout the school year—to ensure that learners master the foundations,” Yee said.

Created through Republic Act No. 11899, EDCOM 2 is tasked with assessing the performance of the Philippine education system and recommending legislative solutions to address the country’s learning crisis over the next three years.

EDCOM 2 reiterated its commitment to supporting programs that demonstrably improve educational outcomes and praised the dedication of all teachers, principals, and stakeholders involved in the LRP’s success.