San Lorenzo, Guimaras records 96.66% literacy rate

Based on the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH), 96.66% or 25,498 household population five years old and over in San Lorenzo, Guimaras were literate. The literacy rate among females at 96.88% was higher than males at 96.46% or a gender gap of 0.42 percentage points.

Based on the official concept used during the 2020 CPH, a person is literate if they can read and write a simple message in any language or dialect.

Among age groups, the literacy rate was higher among individuals aged 20-24 at 99.66%, with 99.60% literate females and 99.72% literate males or a gender gap of 0.12 percentage points. Age group 10-14 got the second highest literacy rate at 99.60%, with a gender gap of 0.12 percentage points, higher among males than females.

Meanwhile, lower literacy rate of 79.00% was noted among males and females aged 5-9 with a gender gap of 1.52 percentage points, higher in males at 79.73% over females at 78.21%.

Three age groups recorded higher literacy rates among males than females, with gender gaps of 1.52, 0.08, and 0.12 percentage points among age groups 5-9, 10-14, and 20-24, respectively. The rest of the age groups were female dominated, with the largest gender gap of 3.30 percentage points among age group 55-59.

More females than males attain higher levels of education

Highest educational attainment was among the questions asked for all persons aged five years and over during the 2020 Census of Population and Housing. The result for San Lorenzo revealed that 38.6% of the 26,378 had reached or completed high school education, most are males (51.3%) with a gender gap of 2.5 percentage points over their female counterparts. Of the 10,186-household population with high school education, only 54.1% had graduated and 44.8% were undergraduates.

Moreover, 18.2% of the total household population five years and over had reached college, 58.6% (2,818) had successfully graduated, while 41.4% were undergraduates. The percentage of females (56.7%) was higher among male college graduates at 43.3%, likewise, females’ percentage for undergraduates at 55.3% was higher than males with 44.7%.

Similarly, more females (70.5%) than males (29.5%) had completed the post-baccalaureate degrees. Of the 2,818 college graduates, only 44 tried to obtain a baccalaureate degree, but only 77.3% successfully graduated, most (67.6%) were females. (Table 2)

TECHNICAL NOTES

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) conducted the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH) in September 2020, with 01 May 2020 as reference date.

The 2020 CPH was the 15th census of population and 7th census of housing that was undertaken in the Philippines since the first census in 1903. It was designed to take an inventory of the total population and housing units in the country and collect information about their characteristics.

The Philippine Standard Geographic Codes as of April 2022 was used for the disaggregation of geographic levels of the 2020 CPH.

The population and housing censuses in the Philippines are conducted on a “de jure” basis, wherein a person is counted in the usual place of residence or the place where the person usually resides. The enumeration of the population and collection of pertinent data in the 2020 CPH referred to all living persons as of 01 May 2020.

Literacy and Highest Grade/Year Completed were asked for household members five years and over. To identify if the household members is literate or illiterate, the respondents were asked, “Can _____ read and write a simple message in any language or dialect?”

For Highest Grade/Year Completed, the respondents were asked “What is the highest grade/year completed by _________?”

Household is a social unit consisting of a person or a group of persons who sleep in the same housing unit and have a common arrangement in the preparation and consumption of food.

Household population refers to all persons who are members of the household.

Sex is the biological and physiological reality of being a male or female.

Age refers to interval of time between the person’s date of birth and his/her last birthday prior to the census reference date. It is expressed in completed years or whole number.

Simple literacy is the ability of a person to read and write a simple message. As such, a person is said to be literate if he/she can both read and write a simple message in any language or dialect. A person who cannot read and write a simple message, such as “I CAN READ” is considered illiterate. Moreover, a person is still considered illiterate if he/she is capable of reading and writing only his/her own name or numbers. Similarly, a person is illiterate if he/she can read but not write or he/she can write but not read.

A person who knows how to read and write but at the time of the census can no longer read and/or write due to some physical defect or illness is still considered literate. Example of this is an aged person who knows how to read and write but can no longer perform these activities due to poor eyesight or hand injury. Persons with disability who can read and write through other means such as the use of Braille are considered literate.

Highest grade/year completed refers to the highest grade or year completed in school, college, or university as of 01 May 2020. This may be any one of the specific grades or years in elementary, high school, K to 12 Program, and college. It may also be special needs education program, second-chance education program, or any of the post-secondary, short-cycle tertiary, college, and post baccalaureate courses.

In 2011, the Department of Education (DepEd) implemented the K to 12 Program. Under this program, the education of a person starts in kindergarten, followed by an elementary education of six years from Grade 1 to Grade 6, junior high school education of four years from Grade 7 to Grade 10, and senior high school education of two years from Grade 11 to Grade 12.