Four in every five Filipinos five years old and over had attended at least elementary

Based on the 2000 Census of Population and Housing (Census 2000), of the estimated 66.7 million Philippine household population aged five years and over, 89.06 percent (59.4 million) had attended at least elementary. The average annual growth rate of this segment of population during the 1995 to 2000 period was 2.89 percent.

Attendance in formal education was almost equal for males and females

Figure 2 shows that in the Philippines, attendance in formal education was almost equal among males (89.0 percent) and females (89.1 percent). In 1995, there were relatively more females (88.1 percent) than males (87.8 percent) who had attended formal education.

Females dominated higher levels of education

Among the population aged five years and over, three in every seven had attended/finished at most elementary (47.1 percent) and three in every ten had reached at most high school (31.9 percent). College undergraduates comprised 11.3 percent while those academic degree holders or had post baccalaureate courses constituted 4.9 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Among males, there was a relatively higher proportion of those who reached elementary (48.5 percent) than among females (45.7 percent). On the other hand, for higher education, a higher proportion was observed for females.

Largest proportion were from Southern Tagalog

Across regions, distribution of Filipinos with at least elementary ranges from 75.80 percent (ARMM) to 95.97 percent (NCR). Other regions with high proportion were Region III (94.33 percent), Region I (93.83 percent), and Region IV (93.38 percent).

Attendance in school was more common among younger generation

The younger generation of today valued education more than in the previous generation. This is manifested by a higher proportion of younger population who ever attended school than those of the older population. Among 15 to 19 years old, 98.39 percent had attended school while only 79.98 percent among 80 years old and over populace.

About one in two widowed individuals reached at most elementary

In all marital status categories, the highest proportion was observed to those who attended at most elementary. Among widowed, the proportion was 59.14 percent; among married, 38.87 percent; and among single individuals, 45.45 percent. The proportion of college undergraduates among married and divorced/separated individuals was also relatively high at 12.21 percent and 13.50 percent, respectively.

Two out of five household heads attended at most elementary

Among household heads, 43.02 percent had reached at most elementary, 29.94 percent at most high school and 11.08 percent were college undergraduates. The same pattern of distribution was also observed among the spouses of the household heads, wherein 39.90 percent had attended at most elementary, 33.75 percent at most high school, and 10.66 percent were college undergraduates.

Majority of the household population who ever attended school were Roman Catholics

Four out of five of the population who ever attended school were Roman Catholics (82.1 percent). Islam (4.2 percent), Iglesia ni Cristo members (2.4 percent) and Aglipayans (2 percent) followed. The remaining 9.3 percent were either United Methodist Church, Seventh Day Adventist members, and others.

Three in four persons with disability had attended at least elementary

Of the total 905,932 persons aged 5 years and over with disabilities (PWD�s), about 683,740 persons or 75.5 percent had attended at least elementary, where close to one half had reached at most elementary (46.23 percent), and one out of six at most high school (16.57 percent). Persons with disabilities who were college undergraduates and academic degree holders constituted 5.5 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively. Those who had not completed any grade comprised 19.3 percent, of which 20 percent were mentally retarded.

Three out of ten persons who ever attended school were Tagalog

By ethnicity, nine in ten of the Kapampangans, Pangasinan/Panggalato, Ilokanos, Cebuanos, Tagalog, and Bikolanos had attended at least elementary. On the other hand, only 76.9 percent of the Aggays, 83.5 percent of the Abellings, and 85.6 percent of the Badjaos/Sama Dilauts attended at least elementary.

Among those who ever attended school, 28.5 percent were Tagalog, 13.1 percent, Cebuano; 9.5 percent, Ilocano; 7.8 percent, Hiligaynon/Ilongo; 7.7 percent, Bisaya/Binisaya,;and 6.1 percent, Bikol/Bicol.

Almost all who had attended school were literate

Among household population 5 years old and over, 87.27 percent were literate, that is, able to read and write a simple message. Literacy rate for females (87.69 percent) was almost the same for males (86.85 percent). Across age groups, the highest proportion of literate persons was in the 20 to 24 year age group (95.44 percent).

Of the household population who had not completed any grade, the literacy rate was only 18.89 percent. On the other hand, literacy rate of those who reached at most high school was 98.47 percent while a 100 percent for those with post secondary courses of higher.

Nine out of ten can speak Tagalog

Almost all of the household population who were able to attend school can speak Tagalog (96.4 percent). Females (96.49 percent) had a little advantage over the males (96.37 percent).

As expected, almost all of the residents in NCR (99.08 percent), Southern Tagalog (98.71 percent), and Central Luzon (98.57 percent) can speak Tagalog while the lowest was in ARMM (74.55 percent) and Western Mindanao (77.76 percent).

Six out of ten persons aged 5 years and over can speak English

Among household population 5 years old and over, 63. 71 percent of them can speak English. NCR (81.75 percent) was the highest across regions followed by Ilocos Region (73.75 percent), CAR (70.99 percent), and Central Luzon (70.12 percent). The lowest was ARMM (29.44 percent). On the other hand, there was a relatively higher proportion among females (7.39 percent) than males (5.61 percent) with academic degree holder who can speak English.

One out of three attended school at anytime between June 1999 to May 2000

Of the total household population 5 years old and over, 33.0 percent attended school at anytime between June 1999 to May 2000. Among them, 49.9 percent were males and 50.1 percent were females. On the other hand, among males, the proportion attending school from June 1999 to May 2000 was 36.3 percent which is almost the same as that of the females (36.6 percent).

Among those in school, one-half (55.8 percent) had at most elementary, more than a quarter (29.3 percent) had a high school education, and one-tenth (11.3 percent) were college undergraduates. Less than one percent had post baccalaureate courses (0.2 percent).

Males who were attending school and had reached at most elementary and post secondary courses dominated females with a sex ratio of 106 and 102, respectively. However, females dominated the rest of the levels of education with the widest gap among those with post baccalaureate courses.

Younger age groups dominated attendance in school

Of 24.3 million Filipinos aged five years and over who attended school at anytime from June 1999 to May 2000, about 32.0 percent belonged to age group 10 to 14 years, 26.4 percent between 5 to 9 years, and 20.8 percent between 15 to 19 years. The proportion of population attending school started to decline at age 20 to 24 years (8.7 percent) with the 45 year old and over group (0.4 percent) registering the lowest proportion.

ARMM had the highest proportion of school attendance relative to its household population

The top three regions with the highest proportion of school attendance relative to their household population 5 years old and over were ARMM with 42.1 percent, followed by CAR with 37.5 percent and Region XII (Central Mindanao) with 37.2 percent. On the other hand, the three lowest regions were in Northern Luzon. These were Region III (Central Luzon) with 27.8 percent, Region I (Ilocos) with 30.6 percent, and Region II (Cagayan Valley) with 31.1 percent.

Among those 5 to 24 years old, CAR (70.03 percent) had the highest proportion of population who attended school at anytime from June 1999 to May 2000 while the lowest was in Central Luzon with 59.76 percent.

Majority attended school in the same city/municipality where they resided

Of the 24.3 million Filipinos who attended school at anytime from June 1999 to May 2000, 89.2 percent attended school in the same city/municipality where they resided and four percent attended school from other city/municipality of the same province. About 0.1 percent attended school in foreign countries.

About 34 percent of college graduates were employed as professionals

About 2.5 million college graduates were engaged in gainful activities. This is equivalent to 79.6 percent of the total college graduates. Among them, 33.9 percent were professionals; 10.8 percent were clerks; 7.4 percent were officials of the government and special interest organizations, corporate executives, managers, managing proprietors and supervisors; and 7.3 percent were technicians and associate professionals.

Among gainful workers holding a position of officials of the government and special interest organizations, 35.9 percent were academic degree holders/had post baccalaureate courses, 23.5 percent were college undergraduates, and 16.8 percent reached at most high school.

One out two professionals were academic degree holders, 20.4 percent were college undergraduates, and 6.2 percent had post baccalaureate courses.

Table G. Gainful Workers by Major Occupation and Highest Grade Completed: 2000

Three out of four households with at least one member who ever attended school owned a radio/cassette

Of the total 15.3 million households in the country, 15.1 million households had at least one member who ever attended school.

Among those households, the proportion of ownership of radio/cassette (75.6 percent) was relatively high. Television followed with more than half of the households (53.3 percent). The remaining household conveniences commonly used were refrigerator/freezer (33.2 percent), video/cassette recorder (20.9 percent), washing machine (20.7 percent), telephone/cellphone (14.3 percent), and motorized vehicle (12.3 percent).

The proportion of households reporting presence of household conveniences without any member who had attended school was very low compared to those who had at least one member who attended school. About 41.0 percent of these households had radio/cassette, 5.4 percent had television, 2.1 percent had refrigerator, and 0.6 percent had telephone/cellphone and washing machine.

Seven out of ten households with at least one member who ever attended school owned/amortized their housing units

About 71.1 percent of the households with at least one member who attended school owned/amortized their housing units; 13.4 percent lived in housing units for free with consent of owner; 10.2 percent rented their housing units; and 1.2 percent occupied the houses for free without consent of owner.

On the other hand, three out four (73.5 percent) households without any member who had attended school owned/amortized their housing units, 17.0 percent had a rent free arrangement with consent of owner, and 1.6 percent rented their housing units.

Predominantly lived in single housing units

Households with at least one member who attended at least elementary mainly dwelt in single-type housing units (87.6 percent). There were very few who resided in other types - seven percent in multi-unit residential types and about four percent in duplex.

The same preference in the type of housing units was observed for those households without any member who had attended school. Majority of these households lived in single houses (96.4 percent) and 1.6 percent live in other types of houses (duplex, multi-unit residential, commercial/industrial, other housing units).

Households with at least one member who attended school prefer 10 to 19 square meter floor area

In general, the frequency distribution of the floor area of housing units of households with at least one member who attended school was markedly skewed to the left. About 22.0 percent of those households lived in housing units with floor area ranging from 10 to 19 square meters, 17.6 percent had 20 to 29 square meters, 20.0 percent had less than 10 square meters, and 15.1 percent had 30 to 49 square meters. Only 12.0 percent of those households had houses with floor area of at least 90 square meters.

Among households without any member who had attended school, 45.3 percent lived in housing units with a floor area of less than 10 square meters. About 25.0 percent of households lived in housing units with a floor area of 10 to 19 square meters, and 22.4 percent in more than 20 square meters.

Housing units of households with at least one member who had attended school were generally made of strong materials for roofs and walls

More than two out of every three of the households with at least one member who had attended school lived in housing units with roofs made of galvanized iron/aluminum (68.2 percent) while one out of every four in housing units with roofs made of cogon/nipa/anahaw (21.5 percent). The rest lived in houses with roofs made of half-galvanized and half-concrete (4.4 percent) and wood (1.9 percent).

As to the construction materials of the outer walls, 32.4 percent lived in houses made of concrete/brick/stone, 22.8 percent in houses made of wood, and 21.2 percent in houses made of bamboo/sawali/cogon/nipa.