THE World Bank has identified easily achievable solutions for the Philippines to increase literacy and educational outcomes, such as improving teaching quality and using technology.
“The World Bank has been putting a lot of emphasis on teaching qualification and that they are able to teach, so that is one aspect that actually could be focused very quickly on,” Zafer Mustafaoğlu, country director of the World Bank for the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, said in a seminar held in Quezon City on Wednesday.
He said positive outcomes can be generated relatively quickly, compared with “thinking about the whole education schooling years, that will take long to change the society.”
“When we look at international experience, one key fundamental factor is the culture of teaching and the qualities of teachers and the overall teaching profession,” Mustafaoğlu said. “That’s why we are focusing on that one.”
The World Bank official said this should be thought of as part of a broader conducive environment and not as a single measure.
“In that context, we have to look at the overall teaching system, teaching methods, and again, one important part is the classroom sizes, the continuity of schooling days, and in that context, students’ ability to continue,” he said, adding that international experience shows this is “very critical.”
Use of technology
Mustafaoğlu also called for more focus on the use of technology to enhance teaching methods.
He pointed out the need to increase the resilience of schools so that school day losses are reduced in the Philippines, which is very much exposed to disasters, risks, climate change and heat.
“We’ve been working a lot on this climate resilience in the Philippines. We have several projects to improve resilience in the country. We’ve just started a new
project program on safer schools, and this is being implemented by the Department of Education
and the Department of Public Works and Highway,” he added.
Mustafaoğlu, however, said it is possible to compensate for the loss from school closure through access to digital learning.
“For example, if there is a closure for a heat reason, students can continue. So, we have several projects actually focused on this resilience agenda to improve the resilience and then eliminate or reduce the potential losses. And then compensate with other methods,” he said.
Functional literacy
The Philippine Statistics Authority last month said a survey it conducted in 2024 showed functional literacy rate in the country in 2024 was at 70.8 percent, meaning about 7 out of 10 individuals aged 10 to 64 years can read, write, compute, and comprehend. This translates to 60.17 million Filipinos out of around 85 million in the same age group.
Among those 5 years old and above, 6.9 percent, or about 7 out of 100 individuals, cannot read and write or are classified as illiterate, it added.
The PSA’s findings also showed about 21 percent of senior high school graduates are considered functional illiterate. Angela Celis
