POLICY BRIEF article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Language, Culture and Diversity
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Literacy Rights: Teachers' Roles in Policy Advocacy in Multilingual SettingsView all 4 articles
Multilingual Reading Interventionists for Junior High School: A Response to the Philippines' Functional Literacy Gap
Provisionally accepted
- 1Sekolah Pelita Harapan - Kemang Village, South Jakarta, Indonesia
- 2Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang, China
- 3Philippine Normal University, Manila, Philippines
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Functional illiteracy remains a persistent and complex issue in the Philippines, as underscored by the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS). Overlapping challenges, including socioeconomic inequality, linguistic diversity, limited instructional support, and restricted language access, continue to hinder literacy efforts despite numerous interventions. This policy brief evaluates current responses and proposes the institutionalization of Multilingual Reading Interventionists (MRIs) in junior high schools as a strategic way forward. Trained in regional languages and grounded in local contexts, MRIs are envisioned as school-based professionals who provide equitable, culturally responsive, and differentiated reading support. To implement this proposal, key policy directions include integrating MRI training into teacher education institutions, aligning continuing professional development systems, and establishing formal teaching positions within the Department of Education.
Keywords: Functional literacy, literacy policy, multilingual reading interventionist, Philippineeducation, reading equity, teacher training
Received: 12 Jun 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Manuel, Gatcho and Areta. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jeremiah Paul Giron Manuel, jeremiah.manuel@sph.ac.id
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