Senator Loren Legarda on Sunday, May 4 urged the government to immediately address the alarming number of functionally illiterate graduates in the country by strengthening learners’ foundational education.

Legarda made the call following reports showing that 18.9 million Filipinos who graduated from the country’s basic education system between 2019 and 2024 are “functionally illiterate”—or have difficulty in computing and comprehending a simple story.

Legarda, co-commissioner of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), said the result of the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), “is a painful indictment of our education system.”

“It reveals a systemic failure that tells us school attendance and graduation no longer guarantee genuine learning,” Legarda said.

“When millions of learners complete their basic education without the ability to comprehend what they read, they are being sent into the world unprepared with nothing but a diploma that bears no real weight,” she said.

Under its revised definition, PSA’s FLEMMS considers “functional literacy" as not only the ability to read, write, and compute, but also possessing higher-level comprehension skills, such as integrating two or more pieces of information and making inferences based on the given information.

“Foundational learning, as EDCOM II has consistently advanced, must be our top priority. If a child cannot read or lacks foundational competencies by Grade 3, they begin to fall behind in every subject, because all learning builds on the ability to understand and process text,” Legarda said.

“Reading with comprehension is the cognitive engine that drives independent thinking, curiosity, and lifelong learning. It empowers children not only to answer questions, but to ask the right ones, and to navigate the world with insight and agency,” she said.

Legarda warned widespread functional illiteracy undermines inclusive growth, weakens workforce competitiveness in a rapidly evolving labor market. It also deepens social inequality.

“An education system that produces graduates without comprehension skills cannot be expected to produce a workforce capable of competing, innovating, or engaging meaningfully in democratic life,” the lawmaker said.

“This failure not only robs individuals of opportunities but also dampens economic potential and erodes the foundations of participatory governance,” she pointed out.

The senator said the government should apply targeted interventions in provinces with the highest levels of functional illiteracy to prevent further learning loss.

More than that, she sees the necessity to strengthen foundational learning, particularly in the early years where reading and comprehension skills begin to develop.

Likewise, she stressed the importance of ensuring there is adequate and safe classrooms, deploying qualified principals, teaching, and non-teaching personnel in schools, and equipping them with the tools, training, and resources necessary to deliver quality education.