Teaching Opportunities Prioritizing Illiteracy (TOPI) Framework: Local Government Intervention to Improve Literacy in Basic Education
Abstract:
In 2022, the World Bank's report unveiled a staggering learning poverty rate of 91% in the Philippines, signaling a profound challenge for nearly 9 out of 10 ten-year-old children in mastering basic reading skills. Simultaneously, an assessment at the start of the 2022-2023 academic year in Cabagan, Isabela, utilizing the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) and Early Grade Assessment (EGRA), spotlighted significant obstacles in reading proficiency. The findings painted a stark picture: 70.69% of Grades 4 to 6 pupils struggled with English reading, 66.20% faced hurdles with Filipino texts across Grades 3 to 6, and 40.04% of Grades 1 and 2 pupils lacked foundational reading abilities. In response, the Local Chief Executive of the Municipal Government of Cabagan, Isabela, Philippines expanded its flagship Literacy Program - Teaching Opportunities Prioritizing Illiteracy (TOPI), intensifying efforts of the Department of Education to fortify pupils' reading competencies. Sixty-five (65) Reading Teachers were mobilized under TOPI to conduct reading sessions with the pupils. Employing a descriptive design with a single-group pretest-posttest methodology, the study aimed to assess TOPI's impact on reading skills within a single cohort. After six months of intervention, the Post-test, employing the same tools used during the Pre-test, revealed a noteworthy decrease in reading difficulties. Notably, 38.35% of pupils in Grades 4 to 6 still faced English reading challenges, while 32.88% grappled with Filipino reading across Grades 3 to 6, and only 1.16% remained non-readers in Grades 1 and 2. These results underscore the potential of TOPI Intervention to drive transformative change, as literacy is a cornerstone for economic growth, innovation, and sustainable development.
