Sibunag records 96.99% literacy rate, females outrank Males

Based on the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH), 96.99% of the 20,890 household population five years old and over were literate in the municipality of Sibunag, Guimaras. Females at 97.28% literacy rate outranked the males with 96.73% or a gender gap of 0.55 percentage points.

In the 2020 CPH concepts, a person is considered literate if he/she can read and write a simple message in any language or dialect.

Among age groups, the literacy rate was higher among individuals aged 15-19 at 99.66%, with 99.90% literate females and 99.45% literate males or a gender gap of 0.45 percentage points. Age group 20-24 got the second highest literacy rate at 99.50%, higher among females at 99.89% than males with a gender gap of 0.74 percentage points.

Meanwhile, lower literacy rate of 82.18% was noted among age group 5-9 years old, lower among males at 81.99% and females at 82.39% or a gender gap of 0.40 percentage points.

Only age group 25-29 years old recorded higher literacy rates among males than females, with a slim gender gap 0.26 percentage points while the rest of the age groups were female dominance.

More males than females attain high school level of education

In the 2020 Census of Population and Housing, highest educational attainment was among the questions asked for all persons aged five years and over. The result for Sibunag revealed that 39.03% of the 20,890-household population had reached or completed high school education, most are males (52.14%) with a gender gap of 4.28 percentage points over their female counterparts. Of the 8,153-individuals with high school education, only 52.77% had graduated and 45.52% were undergraduates, while 1.72% had availed Special Needs Education (SPED)/Second-Chance Education.

Elementary education was the next highest educational attainment of Sibunag residents comprised 32.25% of the total household population five years old and over, equivalent to 6,736 persons, mostly males with a large gender gap of 11.82 percentage points over females. Around 63.97% of those with elementary education were undergraduates, 35.82% were graduates, and 0.21% availed Special Needs Education (SPED)/Second-Chance Education.

Moreover, only 18.38% of the total household population five years and over had reached college, 61.33% (2,355) had successfully graduated, while 38.67% were undergraduates.

The percentage of females (55.24%) was higher among male college graduates at 44.76%, likewise, females’ percentage for undergraduates at 55.56% was higher than males with 44.44% recording a gender gap of 11.11 percentage points.

Similarly, more females (71.15%) than males (28.85%) of college graduates had completed the post-baccalaureate degree. Of the 2,355 college graduates, only 52 tried to obtain a baccalaureate degree, but only 59.62% had successfully graduated, 90.32% were females. (Table 2)

Moreover, those availed of Special Needs Education (SPED)/Second-Chance Education for secondary were male-dominated, with a wider gender gap of 35.71 percentage points. Only 2.33% of the 20,890-household population five years old and over in Sibunag had Early Childhood Education while 1.41% declared no grade completed during the 2020 CPH enumeration survey.

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.