Functional literacy in RP improves

THE number of functionally literate Filipinos rose in 2008, particularly with higher level of education, the government said.

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO) survey, 58 million of the estimated 67 million Filipinos 10 to 64 years old are functionally literate. 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.

The NSO said the country’s functional literacy rate rose to 86.4 percent in 2008 compared to the 84.1 percent in 2003.

Among the regions, the National Capital Region (NCR) has the highest functional literacy rate at 94 percent, followed by the Calabarzon or Region IV-A (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) with 93.5 percent and Central Luzon, 92.1 percent.

The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao has the lowest functional literacy rate of 71.6 percent.

The functional literacy rate among females is higher than among males with 88.7 percent vs. 84.2 percent.

”As expected, functional literacy rate is higher among persons with higher level of education,” the NSO said.

Among those who had reached but did not finish high school, the NSO said 89.8 percent were functionally literate.

For those who had finished elementary, 80.8 percent were functionally literate.

By comparison, the NSO said 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 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey is the fourth in a series of functional literacy surveys conducted by the NSO. The previous rounds were conducted in 1989, 1994, and 2003.

In the 2008 survey, a self-administered questionnaire was accomplished by 69,482 individuals aged 10 to 64 years in 25,505 households sampled for the survey. –DARWIN G AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER, Manila Times