Sunday, October 2, 2011

Philippines far from achieving universal primary education

BusinessWorld Online Edition
Sept. 14, 2011

THE PHILIPPINES has met one of the targets under the Millennium Development Goals, achieving a 1:1 ratio of literate females to males aged 15 to 24 in 2008, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said in a report.

However, the country has low to medium chances of meeting other targets under the goal “universal primary education.” This is one of the eight goals that 189 nations have pledged to achieve by 2015, as part of efforts to free people from extreme poverty and other deprivations.

The NSO report, based on the 2008 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey, said a 1:1 ratio was achieved in both basic and functional literacy.

Basic literacy was defined as the ability to read and write with understanding a simple message in any language or dialect. Functional literacy, on the other hand, is the ability to read, write, compute and comprehend.

The Philippines did poorly in the other targets. Only 85.1% of Filipinos of primary school age were enrolled in elementary school in 2008, according to the NSO. The Department of Education recorded a slightly lower figure (85.0%) the following year. The target ratio is 100%.

Meanwhile, the country’s cohort survival rate — the proportion of students starting the first grade who reach the sixth grade — was 74.5% in 2008 and 74.4% the following year — way below the 100% target.

Another target is a 100% primary completion rate, which means that all students should finish a level of schooling within the required number of years. Only 73.3% of Filipino students did so in 2008 and 72.2% in 2009.

The NSO reported that the Philippines has a “medium” probability of achieving a 100% literacy rate among Filipino “adolescents,” those 15 to 24 years old, as the age group recorded a 97.8% basic literacy rate and a 91.3% functional literacy rate in 2008.

“Both basic and functional literacy rates are higher among female adolescents (98.5% and 94%) compared to their male counterparts (97.0% and 88.7%),” the NSO noted.

Women aged six and above also performed better than men in terms of educational attainment, the NSO report showed. In 2008, seven out of 10 females completed elementary education and 41.1% finished high school, against males’ 65.1% and 36.4%.

As for all age groups and sexes, 67.5% finished grade school, 38.7% finished high school, 95.6% were literate (basic) and 86.4% were functionally literate.

University of Santo Tomas sociologist Clarence M. Batan said the feminization of labor, especially in the service industry, motivates women to finish their studies.

“When a male and a female graduates, usually the female one gets the job first,” he said.

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