COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao—The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao records the highest number of elementary- and secondary-level dropouts among all regions, according to a government survey.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said that Muslim Mindanao—which is composed of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and their component cities of Marawi and Lamitan—has a dropout rate of 14 percent in basic education.
The PSA, which surveyed at least 26,000 households, also announced that ARMM also registered the nation’s lowest functional literacy rate of 72.1 percent, noting that “26 percent of those who dropped out left their classrooms to look for jobs; 17.7 percent, to marry, and 16.5 percent lost interest in pursuing their basic education.”
Placing second and third, respectively, in dropout rate, the PSA said, are Central Mindanao (Region 12) with 12.3 percent and Southern Mindanao (Region 11) with 12.2 percent.
Region 12 is also known as Soccsksargen—South Cotabato, (North) Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos—while Region 11 is made up of Davao del Sur, Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental, Davao del Norte, Davao Occidental and Davao City.
ARMM, Regions 11 and 12 even surpassed the national average dropout rate of 10 percent, according to the Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey, which “provides the baseline information and literacy status of Filipinos 10 years old and above.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Education claimed that ARMM continues to rank lowest in the agency’s annual National Achievement Test for elementary and high school students, largely attributing the region’s poor academic performance of learners to its unstable peace and order problem.
