PHILIPPINES- The literacy rate in the country has improved from persons ages 10 years and above.
The National Statistics Office (NSO) reported many Filipinos can now read and write in any language in the country compared to the previous years.
The 2010, statistics show of the 71.5 million individuals who are 10 years old and above, 97.5 percent or 69.8 million were literate or could read and write.
This is higher compared to the literacy rate of 92.3 percent recorded in the 2000 CPH.
The statistics agency noted that the literacy rate among females aged 10 years and over in 2010 was at 97.6 percent, while the percentage was at 97.4 percent among males of the same age.
“Among the regions, the NCR (National Capital Region) had the highest literacy rate at 99.7 percent,” the NSO report noted.
Aside from the NCR, there were seven regions with its literacy rate higher than the national rate, which are Region IVA or CALABARZON (99.3 percent), Region III or Central Luzon (99.2 percent), Region I or Ilocos Region (99.1 percent), Region V or Bicol Region (98.5 percent), Region VI or Western Visayas (97.9 percent), Region VII or Central Visayas (97.7 percent), and Caraga (97.7 percent).
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had the lowest literacy rate at 82.5 percent.
Governor Mujiv Hataman of ARMM said they are doing their best to improve the literacy rate vis-a -vis the nutrition program of the province.
Among the provinces, excluding the highly urbanized cities, Cavite had the highest literacy rate at 99.6 percent.
In contrast, Sulu had the lowest literacy rate, with 76.6 percent.
The NSO said that of the 38.5 million persons aged five to 24 years old, 64.5 percent or 24.9 million attended school at anytime from June 2009 to March 2010.
“School attendance was higher among females than males,” it said.
Females aged five to 24 years who attended school during the school year 2009 to 2010 comprised 65 percent of all females in this age group, while 64.1 percent of similar age group attended school in the same school year.
By region, the Cordillera Administrative Region had the highest school attendance at 69.4 percent.
Among the ARMM provinces, Basilan had the lowest school attendance rate at 52.8 percent.
The NSO also said Batanes had the highest rate of school attendance among provinces, excluding the highly urbanized cities, at 82.7 percent.
Students in Basilan are affected by the peace and order condition of the area, schoolchildren often escape classes for security reasons.
