9-M Filipinos can’t compute: literacy report

THERE are 9 million Filipinos of the 67 million, or about 13 percent, who can only read and write but can’t make out the difference between prices of goods. They are called basically literate. The other 58 million, or 87 percent, can read and write and comprehend ideas as well. In other words, they are functionally literate.

These findings came from the final results of the 2008 Functional Literacy and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) recently released by the National Statistics Office (NSO). The Filipinos—men and women—involved in the survey were aged 10 to 64 years.

In a telephone interview, Administrator Carmelita N. Ericta of the NSO said, “In this survey, a functionally literate person is one who can read, write and compute, or one who can read, write, compute and comprehend. Persons who completed high school or a higher level of education are also considered functionally literate.”

Functional literacy is higher among women than men. The NSO said functional literacy among women aged 10 to 64 years was 88.7 percent, while the functional literacy among men in the same age group was 84.2 percent.

Based on the country’s fourth Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the country has a high probability of attaining the targets set in the gender-equality goals but is failing in addressing the problem of the double whammy of decreasing school enrollment and increasing dropout rate of boys.

“On Goal No. 3, gender gap in education, it appears to be in favor of girls as far as participation in basic education is concerned,” said National Economic and Development Authority Director General Dr. Cayetano W. Paderanga Jr. in a speech at the presentation of the country’s fourth MDG report.

“We are looking seriously at the factors contributing to the comparatively low completion and retention among boys in schools. Based on a recent study commissioned by Unicef, boys dropped out of schools because they had to work, lacked money for school requirements, and had lower levels of motivation [as shown by feeling] lazy going to school,” he added.

The functional literacy rate is obviously higher among people with higher levels of education. Among those who reached but did not finish high school, the functional literacy was 89.8 percent and for those who finished elementary, 80.8 percent.

By comparison, the NSO added only around 67 percent of those with some elementary education were functionally literate, while only 5 percent among those with no formal education were functionally literate.

The 2008 FLEMMS also revealed that the functional literacy of 87 percent was higher than the 2003 FLEMMS functional literacy rate, which was 84 percent.

Metro Manila highest

Among the regions, functional literacy is highest in Metro Manila at 94 percent, followed by Calabarzon with 93.5 percent, and Central Luzon, 92 percent.

The three regions with the lowest functional literacy rate were the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Eastern Visayas, and Soccsksargen with functional literacy rates of 72 percent 73 percent and 78 percent, respectively.

In the 2008 FLEMMS, a self-administered questionnaire was accomplished by 69,482 individuals aged 10 to 64 years in 25,505 households sampled for the survey. It was conducted in coordination with the Literacy Coordinating Council and the Department of Education. –Cai U. Ordinario / Reporter, BUsinessmirror