Iloilo program eyed as national model after raising Grade 3 reading proficiency from 28% to 90%

March 13, 2026 | 7:00am

MANILA, Philippines — A congressional body is pushing to replicate a literacy program in Iloilo that raised reading levels among Grade 3 students from 28% to 90% in just one year — results that come as the commission looks for scalable solutions to the nationwide reading crisis.

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) highlighted the Iloilo literacy program's reported wins during a hearing by the Senate basic education committee on March 3. 

During the hearing, Sen. Bam Aquino, chair of the panel and co-chair of the commission, said they are studying how to bring the model to other local governments. 

"Mahalaga siguro to really look at this proof of concept and see how we can roll it out kasi nasa crisis level na tayo eh," Aquino said.

(It's important to look at this proof of concept and see how we can roll it out, because we really are in a crisis level.)

Grade 3 is a watched benchmark because it is the last year students are taught how to read before they are expected to read to learn. Children who fall behind at this stage rarely catch up.

Nationwide, DepEd's own literacy assessment for school year 2024-2025 found that more than 64,000 Grade 3 students nationwide — 3.4% of the cohort — still cannot recognize letter sounds or read basic English text, even as they move to Grade 4, where English becomes the main language of instruction.

The Iloilo program, a partnership between the provincial government, the Synergeia Foundation, and the DepEd, ran across 11 municipalities starting in 2024. 

The provincial government funded reading modules written by its own teachers, which parents and community volunteers then used to tutor children one-on-one both in schools and at home.

"Sa problemang ito we need to engage the whole community," Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. told the hearing. "We did this together with the DepEd and the community."

Milwida Guevara, president of the Synergeia Foundation, said the program's success hinged on five changes to how education was delivered locally. 

The provincial government restructured its school boards to include students, NGOs, and businesses, and held regular public summits where communities could weigh in on education outcomes. 

Mayors were given access to real-time reading proficiency data, which Guevara said allowed them to track whether their spending was working. 

The province tapped its own teachers and parents to develop training manuals and deliver tutoring rather than relying on outside consultants.

Aquino said the involvement of local executives was what distinguished the program. "Everything that we are talking about, it seems that DepEd is the only one who has the responsibility to fix this problem and that's not true," he said. "The local chief executives and the national government should be there."