The CRLA results for SY 2025-26 in Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN) place the region well behind the country on early reading. At the end of the school year, 17.7% of the 236,985 public school learners assessed in Grades 1–3 were struggling readers on the Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (CRLA), against 10.0% nationally (+7.7 percentage points). Only 37.2% read at grade level, compared with 47.6% for the Philippines.
Counting from the lowest share, Region XII ranks 17 of 18 regions, with only BARMM (23.4%) further back. The gap runs through the whole region: every one of its 8 schools divisions is above the national share, and 15 municipalities form high-high clusters. Yet its youngest children are less often stunted than children nationally, almost every barangay has a day care center, and the EDCOM II program list records no program here.
Key findings
- Region XII ranks 17 of 18 regions from the lowest share struggling: 17.7% of its learners, or 41,972, were struggling readers, against 10.0% nationally.
- All five grade-and-language blocks are below the national share at grade level, from Grade 3 Filipino (-9.8 points) for the closest to Grade 1 Mother Tongue (-11.5 points) for the furthest.
- Division shares run from Kidapawan City (10.6%) to Sarangani (24.9%), all above the national share; Sarangani lies beyond the national funnel’s 95% limits, and the division with the most struggling readers is North Cotabato (11,499 struggling readers).
- 15 municipalities form high-high clusters and 0 form low-low clusters; the five highest estimated shares are in Glan, Sarangani (31.6%); Maitum, Sarangani (31.2%); Kiamba, Sarangani (25.7%); Sen. Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat (25.4%); Banisilan, Cotabato (North Cotabato) (24.5%).
- Among children aged 0–2, 2.5% were stunted, against 4.3% nationally, and only 2.2% of barangays lack a child development center, against 10.9%.
- The median elementary school has 30.6 learners per classroom, against 25.8 nationally.
- 145 schools report no struggling readers, above the 116 a statistical model expects, and the EDCOM II list records 0 programs in a region that holds 8.2% of the country’s struggling readers.
CRLA reading levels by grade and language in Region XII
The CRLA places each learner at one of five levels, from Low Emerging to At Grade Level; a struggling reader is at either Emerging level. The table gives each level’s share for the five grade-and-language blocks, with Region XII and the Philippines in the last two rows.
| Grade and language | Learners | Low Emerging | High Emerging | Developing | Transitioning | At Grade Level | Struggling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 1 Mother Tongue | 72,719 | 15.3% | 8.4% | 15.4% | 27.0% | 33.9% | 23.7% |
| Grade 2 Mother Tongue | 72,059 | 11.2% | 3.5% | 13.4% | 34.9% | 37.0% | 14.7% |
| Grade 2 Filipino | 78,179 | 11.4% | 3.4% | 13.3% | 34.9% | 37.0% | 14.8% |
| Grade 3 Filipino | 86,356 | 8.3% | 2.6% | 9.7% | 38.4% | 41.1% | 10.9% |
| Grade 3 English | 86,087 | 11.2% | 4.0% | 11.4% | 33.2% | 40.2% | 15.3% |
| Region XII, all learners | 236,985 | 12.5% | 5.2% | 13.3% | 31.9% | 37.2% | 17.7% |
| Philippines, all learners | 5,127,670 | 6.9% | 3.1% | 10.4% | 32.0% | 47.6% | 10.0% |
Grade 1 is where the gap opens. In Grade 1 Mother Tongue, 23.7% of learners are struggling, 15.3% are at Low Emerging, and just 33.9% read at grade level, -11.5 points from the national share.
Grade-level shares are higher in the later grades, but the distance to the country barely narrows: Grade 3 Filipino, the closest block, is still -9.8 points from the national share. English is the harder Grade 3 language here, with 15.3% struggling against 10.9% in Filipino; the national Grade 3 English figure is 8.1%.
Schools divisions in Region XII
The table gives each division’s struggling readers, an estimated share with a 95% interval, and its place on the national funnel. The estimate is an empirical Bayes figure: the division’s own share, nudged toward the national rate, more so for a small division, so that chance alone is less likely to make it look extreme. The funnel marks the range expected for a division of each size, given the national rate and the usual spread between divisions.
| Division | Schools | Learners | Struggling readers | Share struggling | Estimate (95% interval) | National rank of 232 (95% interval) | National funnel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Santos City | 77 | 35,582 | 5,519 | 15.5% | 15.5% (15.1%–15.9%) | 209 (207–211) | within limits |
| Kidapawan City | 58 | 8,263 | 879 | 10.6% | 10.6% (10.0%–11.3%) | 157 (147–167) | within limits |
| Koronadal City | 45 | 8,980 | 1,110 | 12.4% | 12.4% (11.7%–13.0%) | 181 (172–189) | within limits |
| North Cotabato | 582 | 65,288 | 11,499 | 17.6% | 17.6% (17.3%–17.9%) | 214 (213–215) | within limits |
| Sarangani | 290 | 35,143 | 8,762 | 24.9% | 24.9% (24.5%–25.4%) | 226 (226–226) | above 95% |
| South Cotabato | 318 | 41,631 | 6,544 | 15.7% | 15.7% (15.4%–16.1%) | 211 (208–211) | within limits |
| Sultan Kudarat | 350 | 37,307 | 7,047 | 18.9% | 18.9% (18.5%–19.3%) | 220 (218–221) | within limits |
| Tacurong City | 24 | 4,791 | 612 | 12.8% | 12.8% (11.8%–13.7%) | 188 (174–193) | within limits |
Even the lowest division, Kidapawan City (10.6%), is above the national 10.0%. Sarangani is the one division beyond the funnel’s 95% limits, and its rank interval places it among the highest shares of the 232 divisions. The divisions furthest from the regional share are Kidapawan City (10.6%); Koronadal City (12.4%); Sarangani (24.9%): the cities well below it, Sarangani well above.
Counts point elsewhere: the most struggling readers are in North Cotabato (11,499 struggling readers), the region’s largest division, whose share is near the regional figure.
Languages of instruction
Region XII’s schools fall into 5 language groups in the table; the largest is Tagalog (55% of schools).
| Language of instruction | Schools | Learners | Share struggling | At Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tagalog | 967 | 157,770 | 17.2% | 37.3% |
| Sinugbuanong Binisaya | 373 | 37,843 | 19.9% | 34.9% |
| Hiligaynon | 330 | 32,135 | 15.0% | 41.4% |
| Magindanawn | 53 | 7,385 | 24.8% | 30.3% |
| Other | 16 | 1,173 | 36.1% | 24.6% |
Hiligaynon schools have the lowest share struggling, and Magindanawn schools and the small group of other languages the highest. The groups also differ in location, so the table describes places as much as languages.
Grade 2 gives a cleaner comparison, because the same grade is assessed in the Mother Tongue and in Filipino. In Region XII, the share at grade level in Filipino is -0.3 points from the Mother Tongue share, close to the national gap of -0.8, as might be expected where Tagalog, the language Filipino is based on, leads.
Where struggling readers are concentrated in Region XII
Each of Region XII’s 49 municipalities and cities is shaded on the national seven-class scale by its estimated share struggling, a figure pulled toward the national rate where few learners were assessed.
In a high-high cluster, a municipality with a high share sits among neighbors with high shares too, more closely than chance would produce. The test uses 9,999 permutations of the map and corrects for testing many places at once (FDR 5%). Nationally, such clusters appear in only a few regions: BARMM (38), Region XII (15), Region IX (10), Region XI (1). Region XII’s are Alamada, Cotabato (North Cotabato); Carmen, Cotabato (North Cotabato); Libungan, Cotabato (North Cotabato); Midsayap, Cotabato (North Cotabato); M’lang, Cotabato (North Cotabato); Pigkawayan, Cotabato (North Cotabato); Tulunan, Cotabato (North Cotabato); Lake Sebu, South Cotabato; Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat; Lebak, Sultan Kudarat; Lambayong (Mariano Marcos), Sultan Kudarat; Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat; President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat; Kiamba, Sarangani; Malapatan, Sarangani, mostly in Cotabato (North Cotabato) and Sultan Kudarat. It has 0 low-low clusters.
By count, General Santos City (Dadiangas), South Cotabato (5,519); Glan, Sarangani (2,227); Polomolok, South Cotabato (1,431); T’Boli, South Cotabato (1,352); Kabacan, Cotabato (North Cotabato) (1,253) hold the most struggling readers. The highest estimated shares are on the Sarangani coast, led by Glan and Maitum.
| Municipality or city | Province | Struggling readers | Learners | Estimated share struggling | Cluster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Santos City (Dadiangas) | South Cotabato | 5,519 | 35,582 | 15.5% | No cluster |
| Glan | Sarangani | 2,227 | 7,045 | 31.6% | No cluster |
| Polomolok | South Cotabato | 1,431 | 8,393 | 17.0% | No cluster |
| T’Boli | South Cotabato | 1,352 | 6,515 | 20.7% | No cluster |
| Kabacan | Cotabato (North Cotabato) | 1,253 | 5,532 | 22.6% | No cluster |
These are findings about places, not children: a municipality in a cluster still has many children who read well.
Early childhood: stunting and day care centers
Stunting, being too short for one’s age, signals long-term undernutrition; Operation Timbang Plus 2025 measured 142,905 children aged 0–2 in Region XII. The DILG community-based monitoring list shows barangays without a child development center (CDC), the barangay day care center. Both appear on the EDCOM II dashboard.
Region XII does better than the country on both. 2.5% of the children measured were stunted, against 4.3% nationally; even the highest province, Sultan Kudarat (3.9%), is below the national share. Only 24 of 1,097 barangays lack a CDC (2.2%, against 10.9%). The table gives both by province, beside the share of learners struggling.
| Province or highly urbanized city | Children 0–2 measured | Stunted | Barangays without a CDC | Learners struggling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cotabato (North Cotabato) | 40,762 | 2.2% | 14 of 480 | 16.8% |
| Sarangani | 21,600 | 1.9% | 2 of 142 | 24.9% |
| South Cotabato | 51,780 | 2.2% | 3 of 226 | 15.3% |
| Sultan Kudarat | 28,763 | 3.9% | 5 of 249 | 18.2% |
Sarangani has the lowest stunting share in the table and the highest share struggling. That does not make early nutrition unimportant: the toddlers measured in 2025 are not the learners in Grades 1–3, and a provincial average says nothing about any one child. The national picture for both measures is in Stunting, Day Care Centers and Early Reading.
School resources
These DepEd figures are from SY 2023-24, two school years before the assessment: median values for the two ratios and shares of schools for each facility, with national figures alongside.
| School input (SY 2023-24) | Region XII | Philippines |
|---|---|---|
| Learners per teacher (elementary) | 23.7 | 22.8 |
| Learners per classroom (elementary) | 30.6 | 25.8 |
| Schools with internet | 73.6% | 76.3% |
| Schools with electricity | 94.6% | 97.6% |
| Schools with a water supply | 95.5% | 97.8% |
| Schools with no functional toilet | 3.2% | 2.3% |
| Schools with multigrade classes | 11.8% | 15.3% |
Classrooms are the clearest difference: 30.6 learners per classroom in the median school, against 25.8 nationally. The region is slightly behind on internet, electricity and water, and fewer of its schools offer multigrade classes.
A regional model compares each school with others in its own division and gives an odds ratio for each input: above 1 means schools with more of that input have more struggling readers, below 1 fewer. Its intervals are quasi-binomial, wider than plain binomial ones to allow for the extra spread between schools. In Region XII, the 95% interval excludes 1 for 6 terms: learners per teacher: odds ratio 1.21 (1.11–1.32); buildings needing major repair: odds ratio 0.94 (0.90–0.99); school size: odds ratio 0.86 (0.80–0.92); electricity: odds ratio 0.68 (0.51–0.92); internet: odds ratio 0.79 (0.70–0.90); multigrade classes: odds ratio 1.36 (1.11–1.66).
More learners per teacher went with more struggling readers, and larger schools, electricity and internet with fewer, the same directions as nationally. The region’s own results, where the national interval includes 1, are buildings needing major repair; multigrade classes. Schools offering multigrade classes had more struggling readers than others in their division, and schools with more buildings needing major repair slightly fewer, a direction that runs against expectation. The model holds school size constant but cannot separate multigrade classes from what else comes with small, remote schools. School Resources and CRLA Reading Results sets out the national model and its checks.
School heads
In DepEd’s SY 2023-24 personnel file, 36.2% of Region XII’s schools report a School Principal position, against 40.7% nationally, and 40.1% report no head position, so a teacher-in-charge runs them. Before adjustment, 15.3% of learners are struggling in schools with a principal, against 21.3% in schools without one. Schools with a principal tend to be larger and more urban, so this raw gap mixes several differences; the adjusted comparison compares like with like.
Programs recorded in Region XII
On the EDCOM II dashboard, NGOs and corporate foundations list the literacy, nutrition and childcare programs they run. The list records 0 programs in Region XII (0.0% of the list), though the region holds 8.2% of the country’s struggling readers. The list is what partners reported, not a census. Literacy and Nutrition Programs Compared With Need shows where the listed programs are, region by region.
What this means for school heads in Region XII
Start with Grade 1, where the share struggling is highest: early screening, small-group reading time and close work with Kindergarten teachers reach the most children.
Read your division’s share and count together. Sarangani has the highest share; North Cotabato has the largest number, and General Santos City the most of any single city or municipality. Schools in a high-high cluster share the pattern with their neighbors, which makes district learning action cells and shared reading materials practical. And before reporting a zero, confirm that every learner was assessed and recorded.
How these numbers were made
Region XII’s figures are end-of-year CRLA results for public schools in SY 2025-26, taken from the EDCOM II early-childhood (ECCD) dashboard as of 10 May 2026. No learner is counted twice: Grade 1 learners enter through the Mother Tongue, Grade 2 through Filipino and Grade 3 through English, and those placed at Low Emerging or High Emerging are the struggling readers. The 18 regions follow the PSGC, with Sulu in Region IX and the Negros Island Region on its own. Regional figures are close to a full count, so no sampling interval is attached to them. The overview post, CRLA End-of-Year Results SY 2025-26: All 18 Regions, describes how the estimates were built, and How to Read a School’s CRLA Results Fairly shows how to use them.
Limits
Nothing here shows cause: each comparison is an association, and the school inputs and heads are SY 2023-24 records. 145 schools report no struggling readers, against 116 expected from how much the region’s schools normally vary (a ratio of 1.25). Some zeros are genuine, especially in small schools; the excess is a reason to check how results were recorded, not an accusation (CRLA Schools With No Struggling Readers: A Data Check).
Frequently asked questions
What share of learners in Region XII are struggling readers in the CRLA?
Region XII’s share of struggling readers at the end of SY 2025-26 was 17.7% of public school learners in Grades 1–3, against 10.0% nationally. Only BARMM (23.4%) has a higher share.
Which schools division in Region XII has the most struggling readers?
By share, Sarangani (24.9%), the only division beyond the national funnel’s 95% limits. By number, North Cotabato (11,499 struggling readers).
Where are the reading hotspots in Region XII?
The high-high clusters are mostly in Cotabato (North Cotabato) and Sultan Kudarat, with a few in Sarangani and South Cotabato. Estimated shares peak in Glan, Sarangani (31.6%); Maitum, Sarangani (31.2%); Kiamba, Sarangani (25.7%); Sen. Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat (25.4%); Banisilan, Cotabato (North Cotabato) (24.5%).
Why does Region XII have low stunting but many struggling readers?
The two measures describe different children, toddlers in 2025 and learners in Grades 1–3, so a low stunting share does not predict a region’s reading results. This data cannot say what lies behind Region XII’s reading gap.
Download the data
The cleaned EDCOM II dashboard data behind this series are free to download for personal study; to reuse them, email support@nash.com.ph for written permission first. How the EDCOM Dashboard Data Was Cleaned explains every table and cleaning rule. The files are at data.nash.com.ph: start with the README, then the school table with CRLA results and school inputs (Parquet), the school estimates (CSV), the division estimates (CSV) and the municipal table (CSV). The DepEd school files used for school inputs are described in Download Cleaned DepEd School Data.
Every file, with its rows, columns and checksum, is listed on the EDCOM II CRLA data page. To cite the data: Llego, M. A. (2026). EDCOM II early-childhood dashboard data, cleaned, version 1. NASH Reviewer. https://nash.com.ph/edcom-data
More in this series
- CRLA End-of-Year Results SY 2025-26: All 18 Regions
- CRLA Start vs End of SY 2025-26 in the Same Schools
- CRLA by Language: Mother Tongue, Filipino and English
- How to Read a School’s CRLA Results Fairly
- CRLA Variation: School, Division or Region?
- Where Struggling Readers Are Concentrated
- School Resources and CRLA Reading Results
- CRLA Results in Schools With and Without a Principal
- Action Research and Thesis Topics on Reading (CRLA)
- CRLA Reading Hotspots: A Map of Struggling Readers
- Stunting, Day Care Centers and Early Reading
- Literacy and Nutrition Programs Compared With Need
- CRLA Schools With No Struggling Readers: A Data Check
- How the EDCOM Dashboard Data Was Cleaned
- Regional reports: NCR, CAR, Region I, Region II, Region III, Region IV-A, MIMAROPA, Region V, Region VI, NIR, Region VII, Region VIII, Region IX, Region X, Region XI, Region XII, Caraga, BARMM
- Earlier reports: CRLA Results SY 2025-2026 (DepEd’s selected-school file), Do the Same DepEd Schools Lag on the ELLNA, NAT and CRLA?, DepEd School Inputs vs Test Results, EDCOM II Final Report: Guide for Aspiring School Heads, DepEd Data for Aspiring School Heads: Where to Start
Analysis and charts by Mark Anthony Llego for NASH Reviewer. Data: EDCOM II early-childhood dashboard and Department of Education public datasets. NASH Reviewer is not affiliated with EDCOM II or DepEd. Charts may be reused only with written permission from support@nash.com.ph.