Reading into crisis: How these books address low literacy in PH

As the country continues to grapple with a deepening education crisis, Lampara Books is stepping into the frontlines with its first slate of titles for the year, featuring a collection of culturally grounded children’s storybooks and reading supplements.

The collection brings together educators, award-winning authors, and illustrators who share a common goal: not only to strengthen Filipino children’s foundational literacy, but also to teach essential lessons about identity, community, and culture.

According to Lampara Books chief executive officer Segunda Matias Jr., the urgency of their work became clear as more studies and data on literacy began to emerge. Alarmed by the findings, they began mobilizing writers and illustrators to produce materials that could help address the worsening literacy rates among Filipino children.

“Nagmamadali ang Lampara, lalo na ngayon, na makalikha ng mga pangangailangan upang masolusyunan ang krisis, sana ganoon din ang pakiramdam ninyo,” he said during the collection’s media launch.

(Lampara is racing against time, especially now, to create the need to resolve the crisis. And hopefully everyone feels the same.)

WRITERS ON A MISSION. Lampara Books writers (from left) Michelin Sarile-Alagao, Victor Villanueva, Daisy Calado, Eugene Evasco, Pepot Atienza, and Arnold Subastil present their works included in the publishing house’s book collection.

In 2022, the World Bank reported that 9 in 10 Filipino children at age 10 could not read and understand simple texts. This prompted the Philippine government to establish the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOMM II), which later released findings showing that the country’s education crisis has persisted for generations.

Among its initial reports, EDCOMM II noted that young Filipino learners are four to five years behind expected literacy levels. Subsequent findings revealed that only 31% of college students possess basic reading and writing skills, with even lower rates among older age groups.

These figures proved the earlier data of the Philippine Statistics Authority on the Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), which suggested that 18 million college graduates are ‘functionally illiterate’ or having difficulties with comprehension. 

For Matias, being in the publishing field means taking an active role in addressing these challenges, which is why Lampara has made it a priority to develop books and learning materials that respond directly to the country’s literacy crisis, with a strong focus on building foundations among young learners.

“Bilang mga publisher, educators, writers, illustrators, may malaki tayong tungkulin para hindi na tataas pa ang bilang ng mga Pilipinong hindi nakapagbabasa,” he said, emphasizing the urgency of collective action.

(As publishers, educators, writers, illustrators, we have a huge responsibility so that illiteracy rates among Filipinos will no longer continue to escalate.)

With this goal in mind, Matias reached both within and beyond Lampara’s network of artists and educators to develop a diverse collection of titles. These books aim to address systemic gaps in education, including limited access to reading materials, insufficient teacher training, and inconsistencies in literacy instruction.

A problem of instruction

At the core of this new slate of books is a clear objective: to first build students’ reading foundations before introducing more complex aspects of literacy. This vision is reflected in the collection’s flagship titles, the “Magbasa Tayo!” and “Let’s Read!” series.

Developed by reading specialists Victor Villanueva and Daisy Callado, these materials are among the first locally produced decodable texts designed to bring structure and organization to how reading is taught in classrooms.

In an interview with Rappler, the two educators stated their stance that the literacy crisis in the Philippines is not a failure of children to read, but rather, a failure of instruction on how to.

They explained that many students fall behind because they are exposed to teaching methods and materials that overwhelm them as they often require skills beyond their current level.

According to Villanueva, traditional classroom instruction tends to rely on memorization rather than familiarity with sound patterns, which can lead to confusion when students encounter these words in sentences.

“Kung first day ng Grade 1, ang papabasa sa’yo ay isang word na hindi mo pa kayang basahin, ang immediate signal sa’yo kung ikaw yung bata, hindi ka marunong magbasa,” he explained. “Kung araw-araw na message sa’yo ng school system is that hindi mo kaya magbasa, maggi-give up ka.”

(If on the first day of Grade 1, you are asked to read a word that you cannot read yet, the immediate signal to you, if you are the child, is that you do not know how to read. If the school system’s daily message to you is that you can’t read, you’ll give up.)

To address this, the authors advocate for a simpler, more systematic and learner-centered approach. Their method follows a “learn to read” framework, where students are taught to decode words using phoneme-grapheme (letter-sound) correspondence.

Making it simple

In the “Let’s Read!” series, Callado applies systematic phonics, which explicitly teaches the relationship between letters and sounds in a structured progression from simple to more complex patterns. 

Meanwhile, the Filipino counterpart, “Magbasa Tayo!”, integrates a localized version of this approach known as the Marungko method, developed by educators in Bulacan.

Using these approaches, even teaching just a few letter-sound correspondences can immediately allow children to form multiple words. For instance, introducing the sounds for M (/mmm/), A (/a/), and S (/sss/) enables learners to create words such as ama, masa, sama, mama, and masama.

From these, students can begin forming simple sentences like “Sasama si mama” and “Masama si Sam.” As learners become more familiar with these patterns, teachers can gradually introduce new sounds and more complex structures.

Though gradual, this method ensures that unfamiliar elements are minimized, making texts easier to follow and helping students build confidence as they progress, hence the structured levels within the series.

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This approach also supports teachers by providing a clear framework for crafting stories that are simple yet meaningful.

“Yung story na kahit M-A-S lang yung parami ng mga salita, meron siyang beginning, may middle, may end,” Villanueva shared. “Puwede siyang magkaroon ng conflict, puwede siyang magkaroon ng resolution.”

(Even if the story only has M-A-S sound-letter words, it can have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It can have a conflict, it can have a resolution.)

Ultimately, the method builds literacy through small, cumulative learning steps, allowing children to develop at their own pace while fostering confidence and a positive relationship with reading.

Making sense

Beyond learning how to read, the authors emphasize that it also should remain a meaningful and engaging experience. Texts, they argue, must go beyond mechanics and serve as vehicles for understanding and interpretation.

According to teacher Daisy, they had to make sure that as students learn how to decode text, they must also have fun participating and making sense with the stories that they are reading — to not only teach them how to uncover words but also make meanings out of them.

“Hindi inalis yung fun sa reading, because most decodable texts are repetitive lang, tapos walang plot. Bilang nagtuturo kami, isabay mo na,” she said. “Tinitignan namin siya bilang magulang, bilang bata, bilang teacher, bilang reading specialists.”

(The fun of reading is not taken away, because most decodable texts are just repetitive, and have no plot. As we teach, go along with it. We look at it as a parent, as a child, as a teacher, as a reading specialist.)

She also stressed the importance of intentionality in children’s literature, noting that books should help shape a child’s sense of identity and connection to their culture.

“It will make them realize ano ba talaga yung culture nila as Filipinos… not just ‘ito yung mga bayani,’ but who we are as Filipinos,” she added. 

(It will make them realize what their culture really is as Filipinos… not just ‘these are the heroes,’ but who we are as Filipinos.)

“I think it is nice to reconnect them to their roots through books.”

Alongside cultural literacy, children’s storybook writer Eugene Evasco pointed out that critical literacy must be honed as well. Storybooks should enable young learners to make inquiries and reflect beyond the stories that they read.

“Tuturuan mo ang mga bata na maging mapanuri at magtanong, ‘Bakit ganito yung bansa natin?’ ‘Bakit itinatampok sa mga kwento na ang ganda ng kabundukan pero laging nasa banta ng panganib ang mga kabundukan na pananggalang sa bagyo?’” the writer said. 

(You will teach children to be critical and ask, ‘Why is our country like this?’ ‘Why is the beauty of the mountains highlighted in stories when the mountains that protect us from typhoons are always under threat of danger?’)

By grounding reading materials in culture, structuring them to meet learners where they are, and making them both engaging and meaningful, Lampara and its collaborators aim to build stronger literacy foundations for future generations.

However, as the authors emphasize, lasting change will require collective effort and moving past finger-pointing. They emphasized on the shared responsibility among educators, policymakers, and parents — that everyone has a role to fulfill in order to rewrite the literacy rates in the country.

Only through this unified approach can the country begin to address the roots of the educational crisis and ensure that every Filipino child is given the opportunity not just to read, but to understand, reflect, and thrive. – Rappler.com