ANGELES CITY – With a rating of 77.9%, this city topped the functional literacy rate of 10 to 64 years old in Central Luzon covered by the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Functional literacy refers to the ability of a person to read, write, compute, and comprehend.
A close second to Angeles City in the ratings is Bataan with 77.8%, followed by Pampanga with 75% and Olongapo City with 73.4%. Tarlac and Nueva Ecija had identical 72.6%, Bulacan with 72.1%, Aurora with 66.6% and Zambales with 63.9%. Overall, Central Luzon has a functional literacy rate of 73%.
“This achievement is a testament to our belief that education is the greatest equalizer. We are not just building classrooms or distributing supplies — we are building futures,” noted Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr. of the city’s rating.
Since assuming the mayorship in 2019, Lazatin has initiated aggressive and inclusive education programs that he now considers starting to pay back.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Lazatin made Angeles City the first in the region to provide digital learning tools for both students and teachers — distributing 58,000 tablets to public school students from Grades 4 to 12, 3,200 tablets to public school teachers, and another 3,200 to students of the City College of Angeles (CCA).
The mayor Lazatin also initiated the installation of 700 free Wi-Fi access points throughout the city to support distance learning. For blended learning, the city also distributed risographs to 53 public schools to aid in module reproduction.
Further advancing digital education, Angeles City established 16 state-of-the-art computer laboratories in its public schools.
Angeles City also became the first in the region to distribute complete school kits — including uniforms, school supplies, shoes, socks, bags, and t-shirts — to all 93,697 public school students and 3,368 daycare learners in 2024.
Similar distributions were carried out in 2022 and 2023, covering 100,000 public students in 2022 and 92,665 in 2023, and 3,326 daycare learners.
Support for educators has also been prioritized, with salary increases for daycare workers.
For higher education, the city allocated ₱259 million for the construction of additional classrooms, laboratories, and offices at CCA, alongside the ongoing ₱50 million annex building project funded by PAGCOR.
CCA currently offers 13 programs, with seven of its bachelor’s degrees already accredited under ALCUCOA Level 1 and now in the process of pursuing Level 2 accreditation.
Angeles City is also home to the first fully solar-powered public school in Central Luzon — a symbol of its commitment to sustainability and innovation in education.
Through these consistent and innovative efforts, Lazatin has positioned Angeles City as a leading model in educational governance, empowering every Angeleño learner with the tools to read, write, compute, and comprehend — the very foundation of functional literacy. Punto News Team/Angeles CIO
