ZAMBOANGA CITY–Basilan Gov. Mujiv Hataman launched Tuesday, October 14, the Magbassa Kite Intensive Quality Reading Activity (IQRA) Program to address functional illiteracy in the province.
Richard Falcatan, Provincial Information Officer, said the 12-week intensive reading program is meant to enable elementary school students to learn how to read in Yakan especially for those children who find difficulty in reading and understanding even simple texts.
This comes at the heels of the recently released 2024 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) by the Philippine Statistics Authority. According to the survey, 48% of the population of Basilan aged 10 to 64 years old have functional illiteracy, meaning they have difficulty in reading even simple information that are used in day-to-day activities.
“Hindi natin matatanggap na halos kalahati ng ating mga kababayan ay nahihirapan sa pag-intindi ng simpleng teksto (We cannot accept that almost half of our province mates are having difficulty in understanding simple texts),” said Gov. Hataman in his speech at the launching ceremony.
The program targets 60% of the learners that are part of the frustration-level reading group to have an increase in capacity towards instructional or independent reading level in 12 weeks.
The provincial government is allotting funds for trainers, reading materials, and other operational expenses for the implementation and monitoring.
The program is to be implemented with the Basilan Schools Division Office and is focused on 220 learners from Grades 3 to 6 in 11 public elementary schools with the highest number of struggling readers.
There will be daily reading sessions every Monday up to Thursday from 3 to 5 in the afternoon that are focused on fluency, phonics, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.
There will also be Friday reading activities like storytelling, readers’ theater, spelling bees, and games to challenge the mind in order to maintain the strategy even after the program.
“Ang edukasyon and pundasyon ng kapayapaan at pag-unlad. Kaya’t inilulunsad natin ang Magbassa Kite ngayon, dahil ang kinabukasan ng Basilan ay nakasalalay sa kakayahan ng ating mga anak na magbasa at umunawa (Education is the foundation of peace and progress. This is why we are launching the Magbassa Kite now, because the future of Basilan rests on the capacity of our children to read and understand),” Gov. Hataman said.
Basilan Division of Schools Superintendent Tim Undain Sanchez, Lamitan Senior Division of Schools Superintendent Dr. Myra Mangkabung, and Isabela City Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Maria Laarni Villanueva presented a comprehensive overview of education with focus on reading literacy rates, and the Quality Reading Activity.
The Program is set to have two reading trainers who are to design a continuous training and mentoring for the teachers so that the strategy can be maintained even after the program.
Following the 12 weeks, it is expected that reading be made part of the culture of learning in school, through cascading of the learning from the teachers and permanent use of books and materials that have been given to the schools. (Frencie L. Carreon/MindaNews)
