The end-of-year CRLA results for SY 2025-26 in Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) count 36,716 struggling readers among 250,036 public school learners assessed in Grades 1–3, or 14.7%, against 10.0% nationally. The region holds 7.2% of the country’s struggling readers, and 43.3% of its learners read at grade level, against 47.6% nationally. Ranked from the lowest share of struggling readers to the highest, it is number 16 of the 18 regions.
These figures include Sulu. In 2024 the Supreme Court ruled that Sulu is not part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), as the province’s voters rejected the Bangsamoro Organic Law in the 2019 plebiscite, and it is counted in Region IX, following the PSGC. The Sulu schools division has one of the highest shares of struggling readers among the 232 divisions, and every high-high municipal cluster in the region is in Sulu. Sulu accounts for part of the region’s gap with the national share, not all of it: Zamboanga City and Isabela City also sit well above the national figure.
Key findings
- 14.7% of the region’s 250,036 assessed learners were struggling readers, +4.7 percentage points from the national 10.0%.
- Every grade-and-language block has a smaller share at grade level than the same block nationally, from Grade 2 Filipino (-4.0 points) to Grade 3 Filipino (-5.5 points).
- Division shares run from Zamboanga Sibugay (5.4%) to Sulu (34.1%); Sulu is the only division above the national funnel’s 95% limits, while the most struggling readers are in Zamboanga City (11,292 struggling readers).
- All 10 of the region’s municipalities in high-high clusters are in Sulu, and 0 are in low-low clusters.
- In SY 2023-24, 59.4% of the region’s schools had internet, against 76.3% nationally, and 31.5% had a School Principal position, against 40.7%.
- Only 3 programs on the EDCOM II list are in Region IX, 3.0% of the list, against 7.2% of the country’s struggling readers.
- Region IX schools in DepEd’s selected-school file started the year with 15.0% of learners at grade level and ended it with 49.3%.
CRLA reading levels by grade and language in Region IX
The Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (CRLA), a reading screen given by teachers, places each learner at one of five levels; struggling readers are those at Low Emerging or High Emerging. The table gives each level’s share by grade and language.
| Grade and language | Learners | Low Emerging | High Emerging | Developing | Transitioning | At Grade Level | Struggling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 1 Mother Tongue | 77,261 | 14.1% | 5.7% | 12.3% | 26.6% | 41.3% | 19.8% |
| Grade 2 Mother Tongue | 77,789 | 9.4% | 2.8% | 11.4% | 32.8% | 43.6% | 12.2% |
| Grade 2 Filipino | 83,987 | 9.3% | 2.9% | 11.2% | 33.6% | 43.1% | 12.2% |
| Grade 3 Filipino | 88,930 | 7.3% | 2.2% | 9.1% | 36.1% | 45.3% | 9.6% |
| Grade 3 English | 88,788 | 9.5% | 3.1% | 9.8% | 32.2% | 45.4% | 12.6% |
| Region IX, all learners | 250,036 | 10.9% | 3.8% | 11.0% | 30.9% | 43.3% | 14.7% |
| Philippines, all learners | 5,127,670 | 6.9% | 3.1% | 10.4% | 32.0% | 47.6% | 10.0% |
Region IX trails the national share at grade level in every block, by the least in Grade 2 Filipino (-4.0 points) and the most in Grade 3 Filipino (-5.5 points). Grade 3 Filipino has the region’s lowest struggling share, yet it is also the block with the highest share at grade level nationally, and Region IX’s gap is widest there. Grade 1 Mother Tongue has the highest: 19.8%, against 14.4% nationally, with 14.1% still at Low Emerging.
Schools divisions in Region IX
The table lists the region’s 9 divisions with estimated shares of struggling readers, 95% intervals, ranks among the 232 divisions and positions on the national funnel plot. The estimate is an empirical Bayes figure, which pulls a small division’s share toward the national rate because small groups swing by chance. The funnel plot marks the range of shares that is usual for a division of a given size.
| Division | Schools | Learners | Struggling readers | Share struggling | Estimate (95% interval) | National rank of 232 (95% interval) | National funnel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dapitan City | 50 | 4,486 | 382 | 8.5% | 8.5% (7.7%–9.4%) | 108 (86–133) | within limits |
| Dipolog City | 38 | 7,405 | 1,034 | 14.0% | 13.9% (13.2%–14.7%) | 196 (190–203) | within limits |
| Isabela City | 54 | 7,632 | 1,477 | 19.4% | 19.3% (18.4%–20.2%) | 221 (218–222) | within limits |
| Pagadian City | 62 | 10,913 | 1,539 | 14.1% | 14.1% (13.5%–14.8%) | 198 (191–204) | within limits |
| Sulu | 185 | 22,946 | 7,823 | 34.1% | 34.1% (33.5%–34.7%) | 230 (230–231) | above 95% |
| Zamboanga City | 174 | 61,447 | 11,292 | 18.4% | 18.4% (18.1%–18.7%) | 217 (216–219) | within limits |
| Zamboanga Sibugay | 422 | 37,901 | 2,064 | 5.4% | 5.4% (5.2%–5.7%) | 49 (46–50) | within limits |
| Zamboanga del Norte | 649 | 50,616 | 7,041 | 13.9% | 13.9% (13.6%–14.2%) | 195 (192–199) | within limits |
| Zamboanga del Sur | 676 | 46,690 | 4,064 | 8.7% | 8.7% (8.5%–9.0%) | 114 (107–124) | within limits |
Sulu is the region’s only division above the funnel’s 95% limits, and its rank interval puts it among the last few of the 232 divisions. Nationally, the divisions above those limits are Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao del Norte, Sulu, Special Geographic Area, Lamitan City, Cotabato City, Sarangani, mostly in BARMM.
The divisions five or more percentage points from the region’s own share are Dapitan City (8.5%); Sulu (34.1%); Zamboanga Sibugay (5.4%); Zamboanga del Sur (8.7%). The largest number of struggling readers, though, is in Zamboanga City (11,292 struggling readers), where a high share meets the region’s largest enrollment.
Languages of instruction
The table groups schools by reported language of instruction. The main language is Sinugbuanong Binisaya (75% of schools), and those schools have fewer struggling readers than the region as a whole.
| Language of instruction | Schools | Learners | Share struggling | At Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sinugbuanong Binisaya | 1,733 | 140,564 | 9.5% | 50.1% |
| Tagalog | 306 | 73,721 | 18.1% | 37.3% |
| Bahasa Sug | 181 | 21,205 | 33.3% | 25.7% |
| Chavacano | 54 | 11,169 | 20.5% | 31.2% |
| Other | 16 | 2,062 | 22.6% | 40.8% |
Schools teaching in Bahasa Sug, the main language of Sulu, have the highest share of struggling readers and the lowest share at grade level; Chavacano and Tagalog schools also sit above the regional share. Language and place overlap closely, so the table cannot separate a school’s language from its location.
Where a school reported Grade 2 in both languages, its learners did about as well in Filipino as in the mother tongue: Filipino at grade level minus Mother Tongue at grade level comes to -1.2 points, close to the national -0.8. RA 12027 of 2024, which discontinued the mother tongue as the medium of instruction in Kindergarten to Grade 3 outside monolingual classes that meet the law’s requirements, gives this comparison more weight; CRLA by Language has the national picture.
Where struggling readers are concentrated in Region IX
Region IX’s 89 municipalities and cities are shaded by their estimated share of struggling readers, in the classes used for the national map. The map describes places, not children: a child in a high-share municipality may read well.
The five places in Region IX with the most struggling readers are Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur (11,292); Jolo (Capital), Sulu (1,692); Patikul, Sulu (1,681); Pagadian City (Capital), Zamboanga del Sur (1,539); City of Isabela, City of Isabela (not a province) (1,477). Zamboanga City leads because it has by far the most learners. All five of the highest estimated shares belong to Sulu municipalities: Old Panamao, Sulu (57.7%); Panglima Estino (New Panamao), Sulu (52.5%); Luuk, Sulu (48.6%); Pata, Sulu (43.7%); Patikul, Sulu (41.3%). A cluster test asks whether a place with a high share sits among neighbors with high shares more often than chance would produce, after a correction for testing many places (FDR 5%). The high-high places are Indanan, Sulu; Jolo (Capital), Sulu; Kalingalan Caluang, Sulu; Luuk, Sulu; Maimbung, Sulu; Old Panamao, Sulu; Parang, Sulu; Patikul, Sulu; Talipao, Sulu; Panglima Estino (New Panamao), Sulu. The test is explained further in CRLA Reading Hotspots.
Early childhood: stunting and day care centers
Stunting is the share of children aged 0–2 measured in the National Nutrition Council’s Operation Timbang Plus (OPT Plus) 2025 who were too short for their age. The table also gives each province’s barangays without a child development center (CDC), from a DILG list.
| Province or highly urbanized city | Children 0–2 measured | Stunted | Barangays without a CDC | Learners struggling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Isabela (not a province) | 4,927 | 1.2% | 19 of 45 | 19.4% |
| Sulu | 24,629 | 5.4% | 82 of 389 | 34.1% |
| Zamboanga Sibugay | 18,214 | 3.3% | 6 of 389 | 5.4% |
| Zamboanga del Norte | 35,554 | 4.9% | 20 of 691 | 13.5% |
| Zamboanga del Sur | 60,843 | 4.0% | 22 of 779 | 14.2% |
In Region IX, 4.3% of 144,167 children measured were stunted, level with the national 4.3%; the highest province is Sulu (5.4%). Only 6.5% of barangays lack a CDC, against 10.9% nationally, though the City of Isabela and Sulu have the largest proportions without one. These children were aged 0–2 in 2025, not the Grade 1–3 learners assessed, so the figures compare places, not the same children. For the nationwide test of whether stunting and reading go together, see Stunting, Day Care Centers and Early Reading.
School resources
DepEd’s SY 2023-24 school files, two school years older than the CRLA results, supply these inputs. Ratios are for the median school; the other rows are shares of schools.
| School input (SY 2023-24) | Region IX | Philippines |
|---|---|---|
| Learners per teacher (elementary) | 22.2 | 22.8 |
| Learners per classroom (elementary) | 24.7 | 25.8 |
| Schools with internet | 59.4% | 76.3% |
| Schools with electricity | 94.9% | 97.6% |
| Schools with a water supply | 95.6% | 97.8% |
| Schools with no functional toilet | 4.9% | 2.3% |
| Schools with multigrade classes | 17.0% | 15.3% |
Internet is the region’s widest gap: 59.4% of schools had it, against 76.3% nationally. More schools lacked a functional toilet (4.9%, against 2.3%).
A regional model compares schools within the same division and reports each input as an odds ratio: above 1 goes with more struggling readers, below 1 with fewer. Its intervals are inflated to reflect how much more school results vary than chance alone predicts. Region IX’s model gives 4 inputs whose interval excludes 1, with these odds ratios: learners per teacher: odds ratio 1.14 (1.07–1.23); school size: odds ratio 0.85 (0.80–0.90); no functional toilet: odds ratio 0.75 (0.60–0.96); urban barangay: odds ratio 0.81 (0.72–0.92). Learners per teacher and school size are logged and taken per standard deviation; the remaining terms compare schools with and without the feature.
As in the national model, more learners per teacher go with more struggling readers and larger schools with fewer. Schools in urban barangays also have fewer, and so, against expectation, do schools with no functional toilet. For these last inputs the national interval includes 1, so the associations are particular to the region: no functional toilet; urban barangay. The toilet result rests on a small group of schools, so treat it as a prompt to check those records. For the national model, see School Resources and CRLA Reading Results.
School heads
DepEd’s SY 2023-24 personnel file shows 31.5% of Region IX schools with a School Principal position, against 40.7% nationally, and 25.1% with no head position at all. Unadjusted, the struggling share is lower where there is a principal: 13.0%, against 17.2% where there is none. Schools with a principal are usually larger and more urban; CRLA Results in Schools With and Without a Principal matches schools of similar size and setting.
Programs recorded in Region IX
Of the literacy, nutrition and childcare programs that NGOs and corporate foundations reported to the EDCOM II dashboard, Region IX has these: Childcare Center Supplies & Equipment (2); Reading Remediation (Grades 1-3) (1). That is 3.0% of the list, less than half the region’s 7.2% share of struggling readers. The list holds what organizations reported, not a census, and cannot show whether a program works; see Literacy and Nutrition Programs Compared With Need.
Start and end of the year
DepEd’s selected-school CRLA file, which covers five regions including Region IX, is consistent with an earlier round of the same school year. Among Region IX schools present in both files, learners at grade level went from 15.0% to 49.3% (+34.3 points), and struggling readers from 41.7% to 10.0%.
Those schools are in Pagadian City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur. Sulu and Zamboanga City are not in DepEd’s file, one reason these schools end the year below the regional 14.7%. See CRLA Start vs End of SY 2025-26 for the matching rules.
What this means for school heads in Region IX
In Sulu, struggling readers are common enough that pull-out groups for a few learners cannot reach them all, so reading support may need to be planned for whole Grade 1 classes. In Zamboanga City, a high share in a large division means many children, so counts belong in any plan for reading teachers and materials. Everywhere, compare a school with similar schools in its own division and read intervals before ranks, as How to Read a School’s CRLA Results Fairly explains.
How these numbers were made
- Reading data: public-school CRLA results at the end of SY 2025-26 on the EDCOM II early-childhood (ECCD) dashboard, as of 10 May 2026, with one block per learner (Grade 1 Mother Tongue, Grade 2 Filipino, Grade 3 English). Sulu is counted in Region IX.
- Estimates: empirical Bayes shares toward the national rate with 95% intervals; cluster tests with 9,999 permutations at FDR 5%.
- Inputs and heads: DepEd’s SY 2023-24 files; the regional model is a binomial regression with division indicators and quasi-binomial (overdispersion-adjusted) intervals.
- Further reading on methods: CRLA End-of-Year Results SY 2025-26 covers the division estimates, How to Read a School’s CRLA Results Fairly the comparison of schools.
Limits
Teachers give the CRLA, and administration can differ between schools. School data predate the results by two school years, and every comparison is an association. The regional model uses only Region IX’s schools, so its intervals are wider than the national model’s and do not allow for schools in a division resembling each other beyond the division’s own level. Several Sulu municipalities are small islands with no land border, and the cluster test links each of these to its nearest neighbor.
Frequently asked questions
What share of learners in Region IX are struggling readers?
At the end of SY 2025-26, 14.7% of the 250,036 Grade 1–3 learners assessed in Region IX public schools were struggling readers, against 10.0% nationally.
Why is Sulu counted in Region IX in the CRLA results?
The Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that Sulu is not part of BARMM, and Sulu’s results are counted in Region IX, following the PSGC. The BARMM report covers the provinces that remain in BARMM.
Which Region IX division has the most struggling readers?
Counted in learners, it is Zamboanga City (11,292 struggling readers). By share, the highest is Sulu (34.1%) and the lowest Zamboanga Sibugay (5.4%).
How did CRLA results in Region IX change during SY 2025-26?
In the schools found in DepEd’s selected-school file, the grade-level share climbed from 15.0% to 49.3% between the two rounds. Sulu and Zamboanga City are not among those schools, so the change covers only part of the region.
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.