Senate panel hikes budget for nationwide literacy, education survey

MANILA, Philippines — Over P150 million has been earmarked under the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024 to gather information on basic and functional literacy rates and educational skills qualifications, according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.

Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on basic education, said that the Senate committee on finance has accepted his proposal to increase the budget for the implementation of the Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), a nationwide household-based survey that gathers information on basic and functional literacy rates and educational skills qualifications.

“I’m sure that the data and information collected through the FLEMMS will be put to good use by the EDCOM,” he added, referring to the Second Congressional Commission on Education.

The Senate continues the marathon hearings on the proposed national budget, which senators intend to pass by the first week of December or a week before Congress goes on Christmas break.

Under the Senate finance committee report on the proposed 2024 national budget, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) will receive P208.97 million to conduct FLEMMS. This is 254.3 percent higher than the P58.9 million under the National Expenditure Program and House Bill 8980, or the General Appropriations Bill.

Gatchalian originally proposed an additional P160 million for the implementation of the FLEMMS next year.

During the hearing on the proposed budget of the PSA, Gatchalian raised the possibility of making the data more granular by conducting the survey all the way to the city level.

“This will help the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) to identify areas where we have high illiteracy rates, so we can launch programs that will improve education outcomes in those places,” he said.

The senator also proposed conducting the FLEMMS more regularly.

The latest FLEMMS survey was conducted in 2019, the sixth in the series that started in 1989.

During the hearing on the proposed PSA budget, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said that the PSA board would explore the possibility of conducting the FLEMMS more regularly.

Mapa added that conducting the FLEMMS every three years could be a reasonable option.

Gatchalian is pushing for a more regular conduct of the FLEMMS for better monitoring of the country’s literacy rates.

In a hearing on the proposed budget of the National Economic and Development Authority and its attached agencies, the senator asked the PSA whether it is possible to shorten the interval on the conduct of the FLEMMS.

“The FLEMMS is not only used by the EDCOM, but also by the Literacy Coordinating Council to monitor literacy rates in our country and by local government units to gauge the type of literacy programs that they should implement. It’s an important tool, but a five-year gap is a very long time,” he said.

Mapa explained that considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on literacy, the PSA last year sought a budget allocation for the conduct of the FLEMMS, but was not granted.

The PSA, however, will push through with the conduct of the FLEMMS next year, which is covered under the agency’s budget proposal.

Mapa said that the PSA board would explore the possibility of shortening the five-year gap in conducting the FLEMMS, citing as an example the Family Income and Expenditure Survey, which was previously conducted every three years and now conducted every two years to shorten the interval on the release of official poverty reports.

A cycle of the FLEMMS costs around P60 million, according to the national statistician.