Local government units (LGUs) have a crucial role in helping enhance the quality of learning outcomes among basic education learners in the Philippines, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday said.

This came as the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) is set to launch the “Bayang Bumabasa: Mayors for Literacy” on July 1.

With the EDCOM 2 initiative, mayors nationwide will be urged to take part in pushing for the elevation of foundational literacy in their respective LGUs.

“Improving the quality of education is a marching order from the President (Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.), and we believe LGUs have a critical role to play,” DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara said in a statement.

Angara made the remark after 52 percent of Grades 1 to 3 learners were reportedly not grade-level ready in terms of reading, according to the Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (CRLA) for the school year 2024 to 2025.

These include 2,851,215 out of the 5,455,581 learners in 18 regions nationwide.

“If we can scale the kind of commitment and innovation, we’ve seen in some of the top-performing LGUs, we can lift learning outcomes across the country,” he added.

Of the total assessed learners, 47.74 percent were found to be reading at grade level; followed by transitioning readers at 31.14 percent; developing readers, 8.95 percent; low emerging readers, 8.57 percent; and high emerging readers, 3.6 percent. (PNA)