THE Philippines’ failure to address learning poverty in basic education could turn the country’s much-touted demographic dividend into a liability within the next five years, according to the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd).
PBEd Executive Director Hanibal Camua warned that unless urgent reforms are made, the country’s young workforce may end up unemployed or stuck in poor-quality jobs.
‘What we are actually confident about.the demographic dividend, within five years, it becomes a demographic deficiency. It becomes a liability,’ he said. ‘They will become the next beneficiaries of your 4Ps, AKAP, AICS, TUPAD because they will find themselves unemployed.If they are employed, they will be.in bad jobs.’
International benchmarks reflect the scale of the problem. The 2025 IMD World Talent Report ranked the Philippines 64th out of 69 economies, trailing Asean peers like Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.
The report measures how countries develop, attract, and retain talent, and Camua said the Philippines’ low standing is rooted in weak foundations at the primary level.
Meanwhile, in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Filipino students ranked third lowest in science with an average score of 356, and sixth lowest in both mathematics and reading with 355 and 347, respectively, among 81 countries.
These scores showed little improvement from 2018, when the country scored 357 in science, 350 in mathematics, and 340 in reading.
A World Bank study also found that as of 2021, nine out of 10 children in the Philippines could not read and understand a simple text by age 10, a benchmark indicator of learning poverty.
Camua said this collapse in early learning is carried forward through the education system.
‘If we are not doing very well in basic education, then basically those that will proceed to senior high school and eventually to college will have low competencies. And it shows,’ he said.
Government data also reinforce the concern.
Earlier this year, the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) showed that while 90 percent of Filipinos aged 10 to 64 could read and write, only 70.8 percent were considered functionally literate-or able to comprehend and apply information.
This means that for every nine individuals who can read and write, two still struggle with comprehension.
Camua stressed that the problem is not attributable to a single administration, but to decades of underinvestment that weakened the country’s education pipeline.
‘It’s been a systemic negligence, I would say. It’s not attributable to this administration or the previous administration,’ he said.
The Philippines, once seen as a model for education in Southeast Asia, has already been overtaken by its neighbors.
In the latest IMD rankings, Malaysia rose to 25th, climbing eight spots, while Thailand ranked 43rd and Indonesia 53rd.
All three countries placed well above the Philippines, which continues to lag near the bottom.