Reading Education in the Philippines
Posted on Monday, February 27, 2012
Filipinos have been fighting for their rights to education. Our forefathers struggled just so they would be allowed to read and write – to be educated. Today we have much more freedom than our lolos and lolas. We now have more sovereignty to study and learn. However, not every Filipino has the ability and capacity to cherish this freedom to read and write. Many factors constrain others from fully enjoying the said right.

In the Philippines, education, particularly, reading education is impaired by poverty, technology, and lack of motivation and inspiration. Many Filipinos are unable to read because of their socio-economic status. Some families do not have enough money to send their children to school; thus the children grow up without knowing how to read and write. Some families are a little bit blessed that they are able to send their children to a community/public school; however, their children learn basic reading in a very slow pace since such school does not have enough teachers and enough up-to-date reading materials in good condition. Indeed, not all Filipino families have the capacity to enter a well-funded school with competent reading teachers and lots of books to read.

In addition, reading also constantly competes with modern technology in the country. Instead of reading books, novels, or stories, some children choose to play online games nowadays. Instead of grabbing a book, some children opt to grab DVDs and sit all day watching movies. Moreover, reading education in the Philippines is also weak because of the absence of internal and external motivation among children. Filipino youth do not choose to develop their love for reading because they never saw their parents touch a book, as well. Parental motivation needs to be developed to improve reading among Filipino youths.

Fortunately, some Filipinos have the initiative to promote reading, especially among the young ones. Some of our legislators have drafted and passed laws that promote reading. Various colleges and universities, such as the University of the Philippines, offer education courses that train future teachers to teach and encourage reading not only in the English subject, but within the content subjects (e.g. science and math), as well.

Many organizations also provide programs that aim to help Filipinos develop their love for reading. The Read-to-be-Smart project of Smart Communications that encourages a community-based promotion and development of reading skills; the Reading Link for remediation and enrichment of readers of UP; and the summer training program for teachers of UP, MILES, are just some of the programs in the country that encourages reading education.

Other organizations that promote the same advocacy include the Reading Association of the Philippines, International Reading Association, and Global Volunteer Network.