TECHNICAL NOTES

Literacy and Educational Attainment in the Philippines

(2020 Census of Population and Housing)

I. Introduction

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 15 th census of population and 7 th 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.

II. Data Collection

II.1 Literacy

Data on literacy provide an important indicator that will serve as

guide to planners in formulating policies and programs for the
development of the country’s educational system.

II.2 Highest Grade/Year Completed

Data on highest grade/year completed furnish information on the

educational skills and qualifications of the population. The data will be
used to compare with the future requirements of manpower for various
types of economic activities.
 II.3 Data Limitations

The statistics presented in this report were based on the

information provided by the respondent or any responsible household
member who may provide accurate answers to the questions and give
correct information about all the household members; hence, it should
be used with caution.

III. Methodology

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 _________?”

IV. Concepts and Definition of Terms

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.

Page 2 of 7
 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.

Page 3 of 7
 Below are the career tracks for Senior High School (Grades 11
and 12) and their corresponding strands:

Track Strand
Academic Track  Accountancy, Business,
and Management Strand (ABM);
 Humanities and Social Sciences
(HUMSS) Strand;
 Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics (STEM) Strand;
 General Academic Strand (GAS); and
 Pre-Baccalaureate Maritime
Arts and Design Track  Music  Media Arts
 Theater  Dance
 Visual Arts
Sports Track N/A
Technology and Livelihood  Agri-Fishery Arts Strand
Education (TLE) and  Home Economics Strand
Technical-Vocational-  Industrial Arts Strand
Livelihood (TVL) Track  Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) Strand
 TVL Maritime (Maritime and Prebac
Maritime)

The Old Curriculum covers preschool, six to seven years in

elementary from Grade 1 to Grade 6 or Grade 7, and four years in high
school from 1st year to 4th year.

Inclusive/Special Needs Education (SPED) Program is

designed to facilitate learning by individuals who, for a wide variety of
reasons, require additional support and adaptive pedagogical methods in
order to participate and meet learning objectives in an education
program. Reasons may include (but are not limited to) disadvantages in
physical, behavioral, intellectual, emotional and social capacities. For
purposes of the 2020 CPH, this includes gifted or talented individuals.

 Special Needs Education Program in Primary Level

(elementary) includes programs suited to individuals with special
needs that are designed to provide systematic teaching and
learning in the fundamental skills of reading, writing, and
mathematics, irrespective of the age of the participant.

Page 4 of 7
  Special Needs Education Program in Secondary Level (high
school) includes programs suited to individuals with special needs
that are designed to build on the fundamental teaching and
learning processes that begin at elementary level and/or provide
skills relevant to employment.

Second-Chance Education Programs in Primary Level refers to

the program that usually targets individuals who: (1) left school before
completing primary education, allowing them to re-enter the education
system and complete primary education or (2) completed primary
education but wish to enter an education program or occupation for
which they are not yet qualified.

Second-Chance Education Programs in Secondary Level refers to

the program that usually targets individuals who: (1) left education after
completing primary education but before completing lower secondary
education, allowing them to re-enter the education system and complete
a lower secondary education program or (2) completed lower secondary
education but wish to enter an education program or occupation for
which they are not yet qualified.

Postsecondary or Post-secondary Non-tertiary Education provides

learning experiences building on secondary education, preparing
graduates for labor market entry as well as tertiary education. Programs
are not considered to be tertiary education and are typically vocational
and terminal programs that prepare graduates for the labor market.

Short-cycle tertiary education captures the lowest level of

tertiary education and also includes advanced technical and vocational
education and training (TVET). Programs at this level have more
complex contents than programs in senior high school and post-
secondary non-tertiary education, but are shorter and less theoretically-
oriented than a Bachelor's program. Although they are usually designed
to prepare for employment, they may give credit for transfer into a
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.

Bachelor-Level Education is designed to provide participants

with intermediate academic and/or professional knowledge, skills and
competencies, leading to a first degree equivalent qualification. It
typically has duration of three to four years of full-time study at the
tertiary level. Traditionally offered by universities and equivalent tertiary
educational institutions, it does not necessarily require the preparation of
a substantive thesis or dissertation.

Page 5 of 7
 Post baccalaureate course refers to any course for which an
undergraduate degree or bachelor’s degree is required.

Master-Level Education is designed to provide participants with

advanced academic and/or professional knowledge, skills and
competencies, leading to a second degree or equivalent qualification
and has a substantial research component but do not yet lead to the
award of a doctoral qualification.

Doctoral-Level Education is designed primarily to lead to an

advanced research qualification and devoted to advanced study and
original research. Typically offered by research-oriented tertiary
educational institutions such as universities, doctoral programs exist in
both academic and professional fields. The theoretical duration of this
program is three years full-time in most countries, although the actual
time that students take to complete the program is typically longer.

V. Dissemination of Results and Revision

The 2020 CPH special release and statistical tables are publicly
available at the PSA website, https://psa.gov.ph/population-and-housing.

VI. Citation

Philippine Statistics Authority. Technical Notes, 2020 Census of

Population and Housing, https://psa.gov.ph/population-and-housing/
technical-notes.

VII. Contact Information

Joseph P. Cajita
Chief Statistical Specialist
Population and Housing Census Division
National Censuses Service
Censuses and Technical Coordination Office
(02) 8376-1903
[email protected]

Page 6 of 7
For data requests, you may contact:

Simonette A. Nisperos
Information Officer V
Knowledge Management and Communications Division
Information Technology and Dissemination Service
Censuses and Technical Coordination Office
(02) 8462-6600 loc. 820
[email protected] | [email protected]

Page 7 of 7