Caraga Region tops national reading tests

Despite being a non-Tagalog speaking area, the Caraga Region in Mindanao topped the national reading test (RT) in Filipino conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd).

The Reading Test (RT), utilizing appropriate reading evaluation instruments including actual oral reading, was administered to all Grade 3 pupils in over 30,000 public elementary schools in over 175 provincial and city schools divisions in l7 regions in consonance with DepEd’s “Every Child A Reader” (ECAR) program.

The program, initiated by the Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE), provides that every pupil should have acquired the basic skills in reading by the end of Grade 3.

Yolanda Quijano, BEE director, said the education department implemented the ECAR plan because of the importance of reading in the academic advancement of children not only in grade school but also in the secondary and tertiary levels.

DepEd statistics showed that Caraga registered the highest Mean Percentage Score (MPS) of 78.26 in the RT in Filipino.

Southern Tagalog-B (Mimaropa) registered an MPS of 74.52 while its twin region of Southern Tagalog-A (Calabarzon) got an MPS of 68.64 to place second and third, respectively.

Significantly, Caraga— composed of the schools divisions of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Butuan City, Siargao and Surigao City - also topped the national RT in English with an MPS of 77.88.

According to DepEd data, the other regions and their respective national reading examination MPS were: Ilocos, 69.59; Central Luzon, 66.09; Eastern Visayas, 64.45; Zamboanga Peninsula, 62.76; Cordillera Administrative Region, 60.38; Southern Mindanao, 56.57; National Capital Region, 55.95; Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, 55.49; Northern Mindanao, 54.40; Central Visayas, 54.38; Bicol, 54.28; Central Mindanao, 54.05; Western Visayas, 52.30; and Cagayan Valley, 52.12. (philstar.com)

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