Knowledge is power — and to become knowledgeable, you must learn how to read.
This was why Valenzuela City residents were probably alarmed when Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian — in his first State of Education Address at the Malinta Elementary School — revealed that nine out of 10 Grade 6 pupils in the city have difficulty reading or cannot read at all.
“Gatchalian pointed out that this was probably why the city was performing inconsistently in the National Achievement Test (NAT) with its average dropping from a high of 71.93% in 2010 to 60% in 2012,” reports Nathaniel R. Melican in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
In light of the not-so-ideal statistics, Gatchalian revealed that the local government would pour in over PHP300 million in capital outlays to improve the city school infrastructure alone.
Out of the said amount, PHP5 million would be spent on financing supplementary reading classes for students, as well as separate classes to teach parents how to help their kids amp up their reading skills.
Photo from MorgueFile
