CEDAW/C/PHI/5-6 285. Compared to simple literacy, functional literacy, which requires the ability to perform basic computational procedures, is lower for both women and men.14 Here, women fared better than men (85.9 percent versus 81.7 percent in 1994, and 76.2 percent versus 74.5 percent in 1989). The same cannot be said in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), where women’s functional literacy rate was a low 59.1 percent, or 4.1 percentage point lower than that for men (NSO 1999a). 286. There is a large disparity in the functional literacy between urban and rural women. In 1994, 83.9 percent of urban women were functionally literate while the figure for rural women was only 68.8 percent. It was much lower for women over 44 years old. This trend could be traced to the lack of educational opportunity, the lack of access to educational institutions, or the greater tendency of parents in rural areas then to discourage previous generations of girls from attending school. Formal education 287. At present, women tend to stay longer in school and a greater number pursue higher education. While slightly more boys start school (in 2000-2001, 51.0 percent versus 49.0 percent among girls), slightly more girls proceed to secondary school (51.3 percent vs. 48.7 percent). This is also evident in the school participation or net enrolment rates,15 which have been consistently rising over time and is relatively high compared to other developing countries. Except in 19981999, elementary school participation of males traditionally exceeds female participation while the reverse is true at higher levels. This implies the general absence of systematic bias against girls and the recognition among parents that female children tend to perform better in school (PHDR 1997) and are more likely than male children to finish the school year and their education (see Annex Table B10.1 in Annex B for cohort survival rates). To many parents, investing in the education of girl makes sense. The lower male net enrolment beyond the elementary level could also be due to the fact that male children drop out to help their families earn a living, as suggested by the much higher percentage of boys among child labor (NSO 1995 and 2001 Child Labor Surveys). 288. While the national school participation rate is high, it is lower in remote areas, among street children and those living in extreme poverty, among indigenous peoples, and those in areas under armed conflict (Reyes 2003). In addition, the dropout rate is high and cohort survival rate low, particularly among boys (Annex Table B10.1) and children in ARMM (where drop out rate was averaging over 20 percent between 1996 and 2001) and Western Mindanao (13 percent; Reyes 2003).16 These pose a continuing challenge to the government’s “Education for All Program.” 14The recent source of data on functional literacy is the Functional Literacy and Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) that was conducted by the National Statistics Office in 1994. 15Participation or net enrolment rate pertains to the proportion of official school-aged enrollees at a particular level by the total population of children in that age group (7 to 12 years for elementary and 13 to 16 years for secondary). 16Dropout rate refers to the proportion of pupils or students who leave school during the year as well as those who complete the grade/year level but fail to enroll in the next grade/year level the following school year to the number of pupils or students enrolled during the previous year. 82