CRLA results in Region V (Bicol Region) at the end of SY 2025-26 trail the national figures in every grade. Across the 346,762 public school learners assessed in Grades 1–3, the share at grade level is 41.0%, against 47.6% nationally, and the share of struggling readers is 12.1%, against 10.0%. Counting from the lowest share of struggling readers, Region V ranks 15 of the 18 regions, and it holds 8.2% of the country’s struggling readers (41,812).
What sets Region V apart is how evenly the shortfall is spread. No grade-and-language block reaches its national share at grade level; even the closest, Grade 2 Filipino (-5.0 points), is well behind. Camarines Sur holds the most struggling readers, but towns with high shares turn up in several provinces. The source is the EDCOM II early-childhood (ECCD) dashboard, which publishes Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (CRLA) results for public schools; the figures are as of 10 May 2026.
Key findings
- Only 41.0% of Region V’s 346,762 assessed learners read at grade level, and 12.1% were struggling readers, +2.1 percentage points from the national 10.0%.
- Every block trails its national share at grade level, from Grade 2 Filipino (-5.0 points) to Grade 3 English (-8.2 points); in Grade 3 English, 41.9% of learners are at grade level, against 50.1% nationally.
- Division shares run from Sorsogon City (6.7%) to Camarines Sur (14.9%), and the division with the most struggling readers is Camarines Sur (15,250 struggling readers).
- OPT Plus 2025 found 8.0% of measured children aged 0–2 stunted, against 4.3% nationally, with the highest provincial share in Masbate (13.4%).
- Internet reached only 60.1% of Region V’s elementary schools in SY 2023-24, against 76.3% nationally; within divisions, the schools that had it show fewer struggling readers.
- Region V has 329 schools with no struggling reader on record, more than the 266 a model allowing for differences between schools expects (ratio 1.24), which calls for a data check.
Reading levels by grade and language in Region V
The CRLA sorts each learner into one of five reading levels, from Low Emerging and High Emerging through Developing and Transitioning to At Grade Level; learners at the two Emerging levels are struggling readers. The table shows each level’s share for the five grade-and-language blocks, beside the region and the country.
| Grade and language | Learners | Low Emerging | High Emerging | Developing | Transitioning | At Grade Level | Struggling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 1 Mother Tongue | 108,217 | 12.3% | 6.0% | 14.4% | 28.2% | 39.1% | 18.3% |
| Grade 2 Mother Tongue | 104,700 | 7.0% | 2.8% | 11.5% | 36.2% | 42.6% | 9.7% |
| Grade 2 Filipino | 115,915 | 6.6% | 2.5% | 11.4% | 37.5% | 42.0% | 9.1% |
| Grade 3 Filipino | 122,151 | 4.1% | 1.7% | 7.7% | 42.5% | 44.0% | 5.8% |
| Grade 3 English | 122,630 | 6.6% | 2.7% | 9.9% | 39.0% | 41.9% | 9.3% |
| Region V, all learners | 346,762 | 8.4% | 3.7% | 11.8% | 35.1% | 41.0% | 12.1% |
| Philippines, all learners | 5,127,670 | 6.9% | 3.1% | 10.4% | 32.0% | 47.6% | 10.0% |
Low Emerging, the first level, holds 12.3% of Grade 1 learners, and the Grade 1 Mother Tongue block has 18.3% struggling readers, against 14.4% nationally. In Grade 2, 42.6% reach grade level in the Mother Tongue and 42.0% in Filipino, against 47.9% and 47.1% nationally.
In Grade 3, shares of struggling readers are not far from the national ones, yet Grade 3 Filipino is -6.8 points and Grade 3 English -8.2 points from the national share at grade level. The table shows where they are: a larger share of Region V learners is at Transitioning, one level short of grade level. Each grade is a different group of learners, so this describes the present, not a trend.
Schools divisions in Region V
Region V’s 3,162 public schools with results are spread over 13 schools divisions, from Camarines Sur, the largest, to small city divisions such as Iriga City. For each division, the table gives struggling readers, an empirical Bayes estimate with its 95% interval and a rank among the 232 divisions. Empirical Bayes moves each share a little toward the national rate, and moves small city divisions such as Iriga City and Ligao City more than Camarines Sur, so chance does not set the order.
| Division | Schools | Learners | Struggling readers | Share struggling | Estimate (95% interval) | National rank of 232 (95% interval) | National funnel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albay | 465 | 47,752 | 5,242 | 11.0% | 11.0% (10.7%–11.3%) | 159 (157–167) | within limits |
| Camarines Norte | 256 | 35,982 | 4,456 | 12.4% | 12.4% (12.0%–12.7%) | 182 (177–188) | within limits |
| Camarines Sur | 870 | 102,077 | 15,250 | 14.9% | 14.9% (14.7%–15.2%) | 207 (203–208) | within limits |
| Catanduanes | 229 | 15,327 | 1,397 | 9.1% | 9.1% (8.7%–9.6%) | 127 (113–139) | within limits |
| Iriga City | 39 | 5,550 | 785 | 14.1% | 14.1% (13.2%–15.0%) | 199 (190–207) | within limits |
| Legazpi City | 42 | 10,161 | 1,242 | 12.2% | 12.2% (11.6%–12.9%) | 180 (171–188) | within limits |
| Ligao City | 55 | 6,139 | 896 | 14.6% | 14.6% (13.7%–15.5%) | 202 (194–209) | within limits |
| Masbate | 581 | 50,741 | 4,712 | 9.3% | 9.3% (9.0%–9.5%) | 132 (125–139) | within limits |
| Masbate City | 36 | 6,501 | 596 | 9.2% | 9.2% (8.5%–9.9%) | 130 (108–145) | within limits |
| Naga City | 30 | 9,616 | 728 | 7.6% | 7.6% (7.1%–8.1%) | 81 (75–97) | within limits |
| Sorsogon | 450 | 38,860 | 4,892 | 12.6% | 12.6% (12.3%–12.9%) | 187 (180–189) | within limits |
| Sorsogon City | 68 | 10,267 | 689 | 6.7% | 6.7% (6.2%–7.2%) | 68 (56–76) | within limits |
| Tabaco City | 41 | 7,789 | 927 | 11.9% | 11.9% (11.2%–12.6%) | 176 (166–186) | within limits |
Camarines Sur and the city divisions
The largest count is Camarines Sur (15,250 struggling readers), and that division also has the highest share. The small city divisions of Ligao City and Iriga City have shares nearly as high. Naga City and Sorsogon City sit at the other end, below the national figure, and the division furthest below the regional share is Sorsogon City (6.7%).
The number of divisions beyond the national funnel’s 95% limits, which allow for the normal spread at each size, is 0. Region V’s divisions are high, but not extreme by national standards.
Languages of instruction
Grades 1 and 2 still took the SY 2025-26 CRLA in each school’s reported language, even though RA 12027 of 2024 discontinued the mother tongue as the medium of instruction in Kindergarten to Grade 3 outside monolingual classes that meet the law’s requirements. The table lists the 9 language groups used in enough Region V schools to report, with the share struggling and at grade level for each. The most common is Tagalog (38% of schools), with Central Bikol close behind.
| Language of instruction | Schools | Learners | Share struggling | At Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tagalog | 1,203 | 144,187 | 10.9% | 42.8% |
| Central Bikol | 1,200 | 130,738 | 13.6% | 39.5% |
| Minasbate | 263 | 26,863 | 10.1% | 40.6% |
| Southern Sorsoganon | 153 | 12,787 | 10.6% | 44.3% |
| Rinconada | 141 | 17,119 | 15.8% | 35.3% |
| Miraya | 89 | 6,446 | 12.6% | 40.0% |
| Sinugbuanong Binisaya | 70 | 4,829 | 7.4% | 44.2% |
| Other | 32 | 3,131 | 10.0% | 41.0% |
| Hiligaynon | 10 | 642 | 9.0% | 46.1% |
Rinconada schools have the highest share struggling and the lowest at grade level, and Sinugbuanong Binisaya schools the lowest share struggling. These figures describe the schools and communities using a language, not the language itself. The Grade 2 Filipino-minus-Mother-Tongue gap at grade level, in schools reporting both, is -1.0 points, against -0.8 nationally. CRLA by Language has the national picture.
Where struggling readers are concentrated in Region V
Each of Region V’s 114 municipalities and cities is colored by its estimated share of struggling readers, using empirical Bayes and the seven classes of the national map. It is a map of places, not children.
By count, the largest numbers of struggling readers are in Legazpi City (Capital), Albay (1,242); Buhi, Camarines Sur (1,032); Libmanan, Camarines Sur (953); City of Tabaco, Albay (927); Pili (Capital), Camarines Sur (902). Ranked by estimated share, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Sorsogon all appear: Capalonga, Camarines Norte (22.5%); Buhi, Camarines Sur (22.0%); Balatan, Camarines Sur (22.0%); Cabusao, Camarines Sur (21.3%); Donsol, Sorsogon (19.8%). Buhi is on both lists.
A local Moran’s I test at FDR 5% finds 0 high-high and 0 low-low clusters here. High shares are common but scattered rather than grouped: Region V is among the regions with the most places in the darkest map class (15.3–68.0%), which nationally are BARMM (68), Region XII (31), Region V (25).
Early childhood: stunting and day care centers
Stunting, low height for age, reflects long-term undernutrition. The stunting figure for Region V, 8.0% of the 181,914 children aged 0–2 measured, against 4.3% nationally, comes from Operation Timbang Plus (OPT Plus) 2025, the annual weighing and measuring of young children reported to the National Nutrition Council. The province table also shows barangays without a child development center (CDC) and struggling readers.
| Province or highly urbanized city | Children 0–2 measured | Stunted | Barangays without a CDC | Learners struggling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albay | 40,170 | 5.0% | 77 of 720 | 11.6% |
| Camarines Norte | 21,910 | 6.3% | 9 of 282 | 12.4% |
| Camarines Sur | 60,712 | 8.7% | 50 of 1,063 | 14.3% |
| Catanduanes | 6,521 | 9.0% | 35 of 315 | 9.1% |
| Masbate | 28,530 | 13.4% | 53 of 550 | 9.3% |
| Sorsogon | 24,071 | 5.8% | 21 of 541 | 11.4% |
The provinces where stunting is at least half again the national share are Camarines Sur (8.7%); Catanduanes (9.0%); Masbate (13.4%). Masbate, with the most stunting, has a share of struggling readers below the region’s, while Camarines Sur is high on both. The DILG list counts 245 barangays without a CDC out of 3,471, or 7.1%, against 10.9% nationally.
Those measured in 2025 were toddlers, not today’s Grade 1–3 learners; Stunting, Day Care Centers and Early Reading tests the link between places nationwide.
School resources
Region V’s school inputs come from DepEd’s files for SY 2023-24, so they describe schools two years before these CRLA results. In the table, learners per teacher and per classroom are medians across schools; electricity, water, internet, toilets and multigrade classes are shares of schools.
| School input (SY 2023-24) | Region V | Philippines |
|---|---|---|
| Learners per teacher (elementary) | 22.3 | 22.8 |
| Learners per classroom (elementary) | 25.5 | 25.8 |
| Schools with internet | 60.1% | 76.3% |
| Schools with electricity | 98.0% | 97.6% |
| Schools with a water supply | 97.7% | 97.8% |
| Schools with no functional toilet | 0.7% | 2.3% |
| Schools with multigrade classes | 10.8% | 15.3% |
Region V is close to the national figures on staffing, rooms, electricity and water, and fewer of its schools lack a functional toilet. Region V falls short on internet, which reaches only 60.1% of its schools against 76.3% nationally. Fewer Region V schools run multigrade classes: 10.8%, against 15.3%.
A model for Region V compares schools only with others in the same division, and its intervals are widened because school results vary more than a plain binomial model allows. Odds ratios over 1 point to more struggling readers and those under 1 to fewer. Region V’s model returns these inputs with a 95% interval that excludes 1: learners per teacher: odds ratio 1.24 (1.16–1.33); learners per classroom: odds ratio 1.07 (1.01–1.13); school size: odds ratio 0.73 (0.69–0.77); internet: odds ratio 0.90 (0.84–0.97); income class 4th: odds ratio 0.86 (0.75–0.98). The two ratios and school size are per standard deviation on a log scale, and the income class compares fourth-class municipalities with first-class ones.
Region V’s model links more learners per teacher and per classroom to more struggling readers within a division, and links larger schools, internet and fourth-class municipalities to fewer. Electricity, which reaches almost every Region V school, has an interval that includes 1. With internet less common in Region V than nationally, its association stands out, but it is not proof of an effect. Every one of these directions matches the national version of the model in School Resources and CRLA Reading Results.
School heads
41.2% of Region V schools report a School Principal position in DepEd’s SY 2023-24 personnel file, close to the national 40.7%. In 31.3% of Region V schools there is no head position at all, and a teacher-in-charge or officer-in-charge leads the school. Unadjusted, principal-led schools have 11.0% struggling readers and the others 14.1%.
Schools with a principal are usually larger; CRLA Results in Schools With and Without a Principal compares like with like.
Programs recorded in Region V
The EDCOM II dashboard lists 10 NGO and corporate programs in Region V. By category they are Literacy (6); Nutrition (3); Childcare (1). By type they are Reading Remediation (Grades 1-3) (5); Growth Monitoring & Weighing (2); Supplementary Feeding (0-2yo) (1); Child Development Center (CDC) Establishment (1); Literacy Tutoring Program (1). Literacy work, mostly reading remediation for the early grades, makes up the largest category.
Its share of the list, 10.0%, compares with 8.2% of the country’s struggling readers. Treat the list as a partial record of partner work, not a census; Literacy and Nutrition Programs Compared With Need compares all regions.
What this means for school heads in Region V
Because the gap shows up in every grade, no single grade explains it. In Grade 1, the task is moving learners out of Low Emerging. In Grade 3, reading plans can also reach the many learners at Transitioning, one level below grade level.
Heads in Camarines Sur, Ligao City and Iriga City can compare their schools with the division using How to Read a School’s CRLA Results Fairly. A school that reports no struggling reader should confirm its records before planning.
How these numbers were made
Region V’s totals take one result per child: Grade 1 Mother Tongue, Grade 2 Filipino or Grade 3 English, depending on the grade. Division and municipal figures are empirical Bayes estimates, and the school-input model is a binomial regression that holds each division constant, with intervals widened for overdispersion. Readers who want the statistical detail will find it in CRLA End-of-Year Results SY 2025-26: All 18 Regions, and school heads can turn to How to Read a School’s CRLA Results Fairly.
Limits
CRLA results are teacher-given and dashboard-entered; school inputs are two years older. Maps, provinces and languages describe places and schools, not children; stunting is measured in toddlers. All comparisons are associations.
Schools reporting no struggling reader. 329 Region V schools report none, against about 266 expected from a model that lets schools differ. A ratio of 1.24 is a reason to recheck records, not evidence of error; CRLA Schools With No Struggling Readers: A Data Check explains the check.
Frequently asked questions
How many learners in Region V are struggling readers?
At the end of SY 2025-26, 41,812 of the 346,762 learners assessed in Grades 1–3 were struggling readers, or 12.1%, against 10.0% nationally.
Which grade in Region V is furthest below the national results?
Grade 3 English: 41.9% of learners are at grade level, against 50.1% nationally. Grade 1 Mother Tongue has the most struggling readers, at 18.3%.
Does Camarines Sur have the most struggling readers in Region V?
Yes. Camarines Sur (15,250 struggling readers) is the largest group in the region, and the division’s share is also the highest. At the other end, Sorsogon City (6.7%) has the smallest share.
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.