SENATE Committee on Basic Education Chairman Sherwin Gatchalian is pushing for the expansion and more aggressive implementation of the Alternative Learning System (ALS) to reach out-of-school individuals who remain functionally illiterate.

This comes after the release of the results of the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), which revealed that around 18.96 million Filipinos remain functionally illiterate.

“Even though ALS is available, the government still faces challenges in encouraging participation in the program. To improve functional literacy in our country, we also need to consider age groups beyond the Department of Education’s current coverage,” said Gatchalian.

“Now, this is a challenge. And I truly believe that the only way to address this is to mobilize the local government units,” he added.

Under the Alternative Learning System Act, the ALS was institutionalized to provide greater learning opportunities for out-of-school children in special cases and adult learners, helping them develop basic and functional literacy skills.

The law also aims to provide an equivalent pathway for completing basic education.