PIDS Research On Rethinking Digital Literacy
PIDS Research On Rethinking Digital Literacy
PIDS Research On Rethinking Digital Literacy
statement on his or her everyday life” (UNESCO 1958, p.153). Filipinos are quite literate. Based on the 2015 Population
Census, simple literacy is nearly universal (98.3%) among
Using such a metric, 98.3 percent of Filipinos aged Filipinos aged 10 years and over. The 2019 Functional
10 years and over are literate as of 2015 (PSA 2017). Literacy and Mass Media Survey also suggests that among
This simple or basic literacy rate sourced from the children aged 10–17, only 1 in 20 cannot read and write
simple messages in any language or dialect, while 1 in 10 is
2015 Population Census (POPCEN) is higher than the
functionally illiterate.
previously recorded 97.1 percent literacy rate in the
2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH).
• Literacy varies across gender, geographical location,
socioeconomic status, and school attendance.
Two decades later, UNESCO recommended a definition
of functional literacy. According to UNESCO, “a person
• Data from the 2019 National ICT Household Survey
is functionally literate who can engage in all those
suggest that digital literacy skills are fairly limited. Only
activities in which literacy is required for effective
2 in 5 Filipinos have at least 1 of the 6 basic information
functioning of his or her group and community and
and communications technology skills monitored for the
also for enabling him or her to continue to use reading,
Sustainable Development Goals. Hence, digital literacy
writing, and calculation for his or her own and the
needs serious enhancement, especially among the very
community’s development” (UNESCO 1978, p.183).
young and the elderly.
Table 1. Functional literacy (%) of 10–17-year-old children across regions by sex, 2019
Table 2. Basic and functional literacy rates (%) among 10–17-year-old children with and without access to
cellphone and broadband internet by sex, 2019
Figure 1. Proportion of 10-17-year-old children who are functionally literate and not functionally literate
across (a) type of water source and (b) type of sanitation, 2019
Public tap/stand piped 17.8 82.2 Flush to pit latrine 12.4 87.6
Protected spring 17.6 82.4 Ventilated improved pit latrine 8.8 91.2
Unprotected spring 25.1 74.9 Pit latrine with slab 26.9 73.1
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
percent percent
Not functionally literate Functionally literate Not functionally literate Functionally literate
(a) (b)
12 48 1098 29 1023
11 30 1071 21 1053
10 21 1044 9 1019
9 23 1235 17 1210
8 11 1120 10 1018
7 35 1154 16 1087
6 49 1027 37 968
5 206 840 147 855
0 1000 2000 3000
males outnumber females at a ratio of 2 males for every recorded OOSC rates in the single digits: Western Visayas
1 female OOSC. Males are also less motivated to perform (3.9%) and Northern Mindanao (3.9%) recorded the
well in school than females, as revealed in national lowest rates, followed by Ilocos (4.0%) and Cordillera
achievement tests (DepED et al. 2012; David et al. 2018) Administrative Region (4.0%). There are also more OOSC
and international assessments like the 2018 Programme in rural than urban areas.
for International Student Assessment (World Bank 2021).
Among the 1.6 million OOSC in 2019, 353,000 were Literacy is also lower among 10–17-year-old OOSC than
5 years old, 279,000 were 6–11 years old, 431,000 were their in-school counterparts by 17- and 19-percentage
12–15 years old, and around 500,000 were 16–17 years old. points for basic and functional literacy rates,
respectively (Table 3).
As observed by David et al. (2018), there are disparities
in OOSC rates across regions. The BARMM has the When asked why children are not in school, the top
highest OOSC rate (14.3%), while all the other regions reasons reported are because (a) kids lack personal
Table 3. Basic and functional literacy rates (%) among 10–17-year-old out-of-school and in-school
children by sex, 2019
Status
Literacy Rate Out-of-school Children In-school Children
Male Female Male Female
Basic 79.8 85.5 97.9 99.1
Functional 69.1 74.0 88.9 91.4
Source: Author’s calculations using data from PSA (2019)
Figure 3. Proportion (%) of youths and adults in select ASEAN member states with ICT skills (SDG 4.4.1)
by type of skill, 2018-2019
59.5
59.5
59.4
57.4
56.5
54.9
53.9
52.4
50.6
43.8
43.4
42.6
47
42.4
40.7
39.7
37.6
37.5
34.7
30.2
26.8
26.2
25.9
25.8
25.5
25.2
24.5
24.2
22.2
20.6
19.8
15.1
14.7
11.3
10.5
9.1
8.5
7.2
9
4.6
2.5
0.6
Using basic Using copy and Sending e-mails Creating Finding, Transferring
arithmetic paste tools to with attached electronic downloading, files between a
formula in a duplicate or move files presentations installing and computer and
spreadsheet information within with presentation configuring other devices
a document software software
ASEAN = Association of Southeast Asian Nations; ICT = information and communications technology; SDG = Sustainable Development Goal
Notes:
(1) Data for three ICT skills listed in SDG 4.4.1 are not available for the Philippines.
(2) The data cover youth and adults in the Philippines aged 15 years and above.
Sources: UN (2021b); DICT (2019)
Table 4. Proportion (%) of individuals that have at least one of six ICT skills identified for measuring
SDG indicator 4.4.1
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Address: Research Information Department PIDS Policy Notes are analyses written by PIDS researchers on certain
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EDSA corner Quezon Avenue, Quezon City
Telephone: (+63-2) 8877-4000 The author is a senior research fellow at PIDS. The views expressed are
Email: [email protected] those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the PIDS or
Website: www.pids.gov.ph any of the study’s sponsors. The author thanks the PSA for providing the
2019 FLEMMS microdata. He is also grateful to Mika Muñoz of PIDS for the
research assistance.