Reading drive launched to help children in underserved communities

MANILA, Philippines — The Second Congressional Commission on Education, or Edcom 2, together with Caritas Philippines and Linya-Linya, launched this week a community-based literacy campaign.

Edcom 2 said “BOOKsan ang Kinabukasan: Kwento Mo ‘To!” seeks to expand access to quality books for Filipino children up to 5 years old in underserved communities across the Philippines.

The campaign works by deploying community-managed Reading Boxes containing 30 to 35 books and Reading Nooks containing 70 to 75 books to day care centers, churches, schools, barangay halls and community spaces.

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These sets, which will be made available through church, local government, school and civil society networks, are expected to enable wide and sustainable distribution across the country.

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Edcom 2 said the campaign “comes at a critical moment in the country’s effort to address its learning crisis,” citing its report, “Turning Point: A Decade of Necessary Reforms,” which found that 48.76 percent of Filipino learners “were not reading at grade level by Grade 3.”

The report also identified the lack of learning resources in the early years as one of the most urgent and addressable gaps in the education system, with stunting affecting 23.6 percent of children.

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Early childhood education participation rates for children 3 to 4 years old were at only 34 percent, while a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies found that 60 percent of households with children up to 4 years old do not have children’s books at home.

“The learning crisis does not begin in the classroom — it begins long before a child ever sets foot in school,” Edcom 2 Executive Director Dr. Karol Mark Yee said.

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Yee said the campaign is “a concrete response to what our findings have consistently showed: that every Filipino child deserves access to books that help them read, think, and dream — especially in the communities that have long been left behind.”

Edcom 2 said “the initiative is a direct, visible example of concrete actions on foundational literacy that are immediate, community-level interventions that do not wait for systemic reform to reach the most vulnerable children.”

The campaign seeks to deploy its first 100 sets by July, scaling to 1,000 sets by year-end.

The partnership also includes the PIEmealya Program, a Caritas Philippines initiative that integrates literacy, family development and health care across more than 15 sites nationwide, with initial launches in Jaro, Cotabato and Zamboanga in July.

“The Church has always believed that education is not a privilege — it is a right, and it is a calling,” Caritas Philippines Executive Director Father Tito Caluag said.

“BOOKsan ang Kinabukasan is our urgent response to the many Filipino children who have yet to hold a book of their own, who have yet to discover the joy of a story told in their own language,” Caluag said.

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“Through Caritas Philippines and the Alay Kapwa Program, we are bringing that first book — and with it, that first door — to the children who need it most. We invite every parish, every family, every Filipino of goodwill to be part of our mission. Kwento mo ‘to — Every child’s future is a moving story worth sharing,” he said. /dm