By Mariela Angella Oladive
Over 1,200 Grade 3 learners from 20 municipalities in Iloilo took part in a reading post-assessment conducted by the Iloilo provincial government through its Education Core (EDCORE) team on April 4.
The activity is part of the ongoing Proof of Concept, a pilot program aimed at improving literacy among young learners in the province.
The post-assessment included learners from 11 experimental-group towns where interventions were implemented, and nine control-group towns.
It follows a pre-assessment held in September 2024 that established baseline data to track the program’s progress.
The evaluation aims to measure the effectiveness of the province’s strategies in addressing reading challenges among Grade 3 students, an issue highlighted by the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory.
In the 2022–2023 school year, Phil-IRI results showed that more than 75 percent of Iloilo’s 180,000 learners were categorized as below-average readers, frustrated readers or non-readers.
To address the issue, more than 100 elementary teachers from the 11 intervention towns underwent specialized training in 2023 to strengthen their reading instruction.
Grade 3 learners in these areas also received customized reading workbooks to support their development.
The program is implemented in partnership with Synergeia Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to advancing education reform in the Philippines.
The initiative has received strong support from mayors of the participating municipalities, who pledged to make reading proficiency a local priority.
It aligns with the province’s broader goal of raising educational standards and improving outcomes for young students.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. has consistently emphasized that poor reading proficiency and classroom shortages are tantamount to a “national emergency.”
