• The 2003 FLEMMS results also show that around 11.6 million or about 34 percent of the 34 million population 6 to 24 years old in the country were not currently attending school.

• The lowest proportion was noted in Region VI – Western Visayas (27.0 percent).  Bicol Region followed with a lower percentage of 29.3 percent or 3 in every 10 of the population 6-24 years old compared to the national figure.  This was around 626 thousand of the 2.1 million population 6 to 24 years old in the region.

• The top three regions who had the highest percentage of population not currently attending school were ARMM with 46.4 percent, National Capital Region with 36.9 percent and Region III (Central Luzon) with 35.8 percent.

• By age group, those belonging to age group 16-24 years old recorded the highest proportion of persons who are not currently attending school (64.6 percent), lower by 1.9 percentage point from the national figure of 66.5 percent.
  
  
• When asked about the main reason why their children were not attending school, 30 percent of the survey respondents in the country said that their children were either working or looking for work, 22 percent mentioned that their children lack interest in going to school, and 20 percent stated that they cannot afford the high cost of education.
  
  
• However, in Bicol Region, when asked about the main reason why their children were not attending school, 27 percent of the survey respondents stated that they cannot afford the high cost of education, 25 percent or 1 in every 4 mentioned that their children lack interest in going to school and 1 in every 5 said that their children were either working or looking for work. Other reasons cited by the respondents are housekeeping, cannot cope with school work, due to illness/disability and schools are very far, among others.
  
  
• Basic literacy status of individual was determined based on the respondent’s answer to the question –

“Can____ read and write a simple message in any language or dialect?”

• Based on the results of the 2003 FLEMMS, 95 percent of the population 10 years old and over in Bicol Region can read and write or basically literate.  This percentage is higher by 2 percentage points compared to the national level (93.4 percent).

• By sex, the basic literacy rate among females was generally higher than males both at the national and in Bicol. However, the percentage posted in Bicol was higher both in males and females compared to the national figure.

• Likewise, the basic literacy rate among females was generally higher than males in all age group except for age group 60 years old over.
  
  
• As to be expected, basic literacy rate of the population increases with an increasing level of education.   The difference in the basic literacy rate between the national and figure for Bicol was not that significant except for those with no formal education wherein the percentage recorded for Bicol was significantly higher than the figure for the national (20.2 percent vs. 7.7 percent).
  
  
• Across Bicol provinces, Sorsogon and Camarines Norte posted the highest basic literacy rate in the region with 97.2 percent and 97.1 percent, respectively.  The lowest was recorded in Masbate with 90.0 percent basic literacy rate.  Basic literacy rate recorded in the rest of the provinces were – Albay, 94.9 percent; Camarines Sur, 96.1 percent and Catanduanes, 91.0 percent.
  
  
• In Albay, as an example, given the estimate of basic literacy rate at 94.9 percent, we can say that there is a 95 % probability that the estimate of basic literacy rate in Albay is between 92.7 and 97.0 percent.
  
  
• Considering the standard error, coefficient of variation and 95% confidence interval for the provinces of Catanduanes and Masbate, the level of precision of the estimates for these provinces fall below what we consider acceptable.
  
  
• Except for the province of Camarines Norte, basic literacy rate of females is generally higher than males in all Bicol provinces.
  
  
• Among regions, NCR has the highest basic literacy rate with 99 percent. It is followed by Region I (Ilocos) and CALABARZON with 97.4 and 97.2 percent, respectively.   ARMM has the lowest rate with only seven out of 10 persons aged 10 years old and over are considered as basically literate.

• The basic literacy rate for Bicol (95.0 percent) was higher by 1.6 percentage point compared to the national rate of 93.4 percent and number 5 from the top five regions with high rates.
  
  
• In the 2003 FLEMMS, a self-administered questionnaire (FLEMMS Form 2) was used in order to determine if a person is functionally literate or not.  It was given to all persons aged 10 to 64 years old.

• A person is considered as functionally literate if he/she can read, write, compute and/or comprehend.
  
  
• Persons who graduated from high school or completed a higher level of education were automatically considered functionally literate in the tabulations.
  
  
• Results of the 2003 FLEMMS revealed a functional literacy rate of 84.1 percent at the national level, slightly higher than the 1994 rate of 83.8 percent.
  
  
• Based on the 2003 FLEMMS, around 2.6 million out of the 3.3 million Bicolanos aged 10 to 64 years old are considered functionally literate in 2003 or 4 in every 5 can read, write, compute and/or comprehend.  However, compared to the 1994 FLEMMS results, the rate in 2003 declined by 2.7 percentage points from the 82.8 percent figure in 1994 and lower by 4.0 percentage points compared to the national figure of 84.1 percent in 2003.
  
  
• Considering the standard error, coefficient of variation and 95% confidence interval for the provinces of Camarines Norte, Catanduanes and Masbate, the level of precision of the estimates for these provinces fall below what we consider acceptable.

• By sex, the functional literacy rate among females is higher than among males both in 1994 and 2003, 85.9 percent vs. 81.7 in 1994 and 86.3 percent vs. 81.9 percent in 2003.  The percentage recorded both among males and females slightly increased from 1994 to 2003.
  
  
• Similarly, in Bicol, the functional literacy rate among females is higher than among males both in 1994 and 2003, 84.5 percent vs. 81.3 in 1994 and 83.8 percent vs. 76.6 percent in 2003.
  
  
• Among males, the proportion of functionally literate in 2003 declined significantly by 4.7 percentage points from the 1994 figure of 81.3 percent while among females, the proportion decreased only by 0.7 percentage point from the 1994 figure of 84.5 percent.

• Among the 17 regions, NCR ranks first in terms of functional literacy rate (94.6 %), followed by CALABARZON (90.4 %) and Ilocos (88.6 %). ARMM has the lowest functional literacy rate (62.9 %).