The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has renewed its push for colleges and universities to actively combat illiteracy and learning challenges in their local communities.

CHED issued a memorandum urging higher education institutions to integrate functional literacy programs into their extension services, in support of a whole-of-government approach to improving functional literacy rates and advancing the objectives of Republic Act No. 7165, or the Act Creating the Literacy Coordinating Council.

The initiative comes in light of findings in the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) Final Report, which cited results of the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey.

The report revealed that nearly 30 percent of Filipinos aged 10 to 64 are functionally illiterate, including 18 percent of college students and 7 percent of those with graduate degrees. The number of Filipinos struggling with functional literacy has risen to 11.8 million, exceeding the 10.3 million recorded in 1991.

CHED also noted that current basic literacy levels often fall short of the competencies envisioned in the Philippine Development Plan 2023–2028, which aims to equip Filipinos to thrive in both society and the workforce.

CHED Chairperson Shirley Agrupis emphasized that functional literacy is key to achieving these national goals, stressing the critical role of higher education institutions in complementing the efforts of the basic education sector, particularly in resource-constrained communities.

“True nation-building requires that we lift up the millions of Filipinos who still fall within the 10 percent illiteracy gap. We are urging our higher education institutions to go beyond traditional extension work and adopt a scientific, outcomes-based approach to functional literacy,” Agrupis said.

To ensure effectiveness, CHED introduced the Basic and Functional Literacy Framework, which provides higher education institutions with standards for designing, implementing, and evaluating literacy extension programs. The framework shifts literacy initiatives from short-term outreach activities to structured interventions with defined targets, methodologies, and measurable results.

CHED also encouraged colleges and universities nationwide to tap into the National Service Training Program, urging institutions capable of offering literacy training to extend these services to communities as part of their extension work.

In addition, CHED called on research-oriented institutions to conduct action research on effective literacy strategies, including surveying local literacy conditions and developing new learning technologies.

EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee said the education crisis requires collective action.

“We have long recognized that the education crisis is too big for any single agency to solve alone. This game-changing partnership between CHED and DepEd, mobilizing our colleges and universities, is exactly the kind of ‘whole-of-nation’ approach we need,” Yee said.

“By deploying our tertiary students and faculty to support functional literacy, we are not just addressing learning gaps in basic education; we are grounding our higher education extension services in the most urgent realities of our communities. We hope this sparks a nationwide movement where every higher education institution becomes a hub for literacy and lifelong learning,” he added.