CAGAYAN de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez has called on the Department of Education and the Department of Budget and Management to allocate at least half of the 16,000 new teaching positions for 2025 to Mindanao, aiming to address the region’s ongoing literacy challenges.

Rodriguez stressed that prioritizing Mindanao in teacher deployment is essential to help the region catch up with Luzon and Visayas in youth literacy and reading comprehension.

“This is a vital step in addressing the alarming gap in functional literacy in Mindanao. We need more teachers in underserved areas to help our children not just learn to read, but also understand what they are reading,” Rodriguez said.

His appeal follows data from the Philippine Statistics Authority revealing that nearly 19 million Filipinos struggle with functional illiteracy—the ability to read words without fully understanding them.

The same report noted that eight out of the ten provinces with the highest basic illiteracy rates are in Mindanao, including Tawi-Tawi, Davao Occidental, Basilan, Sarangani, Lanao del Sur, Zamboanga del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, and Maguindanao.

According to the DBM, the 16,000 new teaching posts include 15,353 slots for Teacher I, 157 for Special Science Teachers, and 500 for Special Education Teachers.

Rodriguez emphasized that deploying more teachers to Mindanao’s poorest and most remote areas will be key to reducing illiteracy, improving educational outcomes, and narrowing the development gap between regions.

He urged both DepEd and DBM to consider regional needs in finalizing teacher deployments, highlighting the importance of equitable access to quality education for all Filipino learners.