A country in Central America, Honduras is bounded by Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean and the languages spoken there are English and Spanish. In 2010, around 50% of the Honduran population lived below the poverty line despite the republic’s economic growth of approximately 7% in the years before that. Around 1.2 million people were not employed. Its capital is Tegucigalpa.
This is why literacy in every nation is important and so are the facts and figures of literacy rate. The data gathered about literacy rate can be used as an indicator of the quality of the labor force that a country has and will have in the future. Literacy rate is also important to implement policies for women and men, in terms of life skills.
Literacy rate also has other benefits and uses. Apart from predicting how effective the educational system in a region or country is, it is also useful in indicating its relevance to other problems of the country such as poverty, crime rate and unemployment. If the literacy rate level is high, it shows of the ability of the education system to provide the people the chance to acquire literacy skills in a larger area.
However, measuring literacy rate in practical terms can be challenging. This is because it requires surveys under controlled conditions. In some countries, literacy rate measurements include 15 year-old student and older while in others, younger ones are included.
Academic year in Honduras is from February to November while children are accepted in primary school at the age of six. According to the 2014 update of the National Education Profile, there are around 1,876,000 students in the primary and secondary schools with about 1,217,000 are attending primary education. When it comes to youth population, at least 16% have been enrolled to primary education but did not complete it and at least 2% have not attended any formal education. These figures suggest that around 19% of the population, at ages between15-24 did not complete primary education.
While Honduras has a high literacy rate when it comes to the younger population enrolled in primary education, adult literacy lags behind due to the inequality between the rich and the poor, which is prevalent in Honduran society. According to projected figures, in 2030, students from rich families will be able to complete secondary schools while it will take a century for students who belong to the poorest families.
Youth, Male and Female Literacy Rate Percentage (15-24 years old)
In 2014, among females and males ages 15 to 24 years old, the literacy rates are 96.29 and 96.93, respectively. These figures are the highest in the last 13 years with the lowest percentage of young females in 2001 at 90.91 On the other hand, during the same year, it was also the lowest in young male with a percentage of 86.89. In total, the literacy rate in percentage of male and female Hondurans from 15-24 years of age in 2014 is 95.68 with an all time low 13 years prior, at 88.94. These are young people who can read and write with the ability to understand simple sentences.
Adult, Male and Female Literacy Rate Percentage (15 years old and above)
The literacy rate percentage of adult female at 15 years old and older was 87.03 in 2014 while the percentage rate of adult male of the same age range during that same year was 87.40. The lowest percentage literacy rate for both was in 2001 at 80.22 and 79.79, respectively. As for the total percentage of both genders at its highest was 87.20 in 2014 while its lowest percentage value was in 2001 at 80.01.
Statistical Concept
Statistics in literacy measures the results of primary education for the last 10 years and indicates the proportion of the population that has been enrolled in primary education and able to acquire basic numeracy and literacy skills. Numeracy is the ability of an individual to calculate simple calculations in arithmetic. The UNESCO Institute of Statistics is responsible for the compilation of data on literacy which come from household surveys and censuses.
Out-of-School Children
In any given country, there are also children who not given the opportunity to attend formal education, for different reasons. In the republic of Honduras, about 6% are not enrolled in primary education but are in the official ages for admission. Between boys and girls, the percentage of out-of-school boys is higher than the girls at 7% and %, respectively. As for youth in secondary school, there are about 34% of young girls who are not attending secondary school while there are 41% of young boys in Honduras who are out-of-school.
In terms of gross indicators, the percentage of students enrolled, who are under age and over-age is 109%, in primary education while there is an indication of a lower percentage in lower secondary education at 75% and a transition rate of 68% from primary to secondary school.
Other Facts
- The primary rate of enrollment in Honduras is at a high 94% while the percentage in completion rate is a perfect 100%. These figures show that the country is showing progress in terms of nationwide primary education numbers.
- When it comes to statistics indicating the possibility of Honduran students repeating Grade 1, the percentage is at 9.3 for both genders and manifests a higher rate as opposed to the statistics in terms of average repetition of students in the primary school, at 4.4%.
- Honduras ranks 68th among other countries when it comes to access in education for low and middle income families while 50 percent in terms of learning, in terms of provided education. In Honduras, literacy rate, among young men and women is at 95%.
- In 2006, the percentage of test takers to assess reading skills and who failed below the performance benchmark was 26% compared to other countries that only resulted to 13%.
- The expense per pupil or Per Pupil Expenditure (PPE) in Honduras in primary education in terms of percentage of Gross Domestic Product per capita is higher than the PPE median in other countries with lower income at 18% as opposed to only 14%.
- In terms of PTR or the indicator for proxy learning quality and availability of resource, Honduras yields 33.9% in primary education while the median for other countries with lower middle income have 29%.
Crystal Lombardo is a contributing editor for Vision Launch. Crystal is a seasoned writer and researcher with over 10 years of experience. She has been an editor of three popular blogs that each have had over 500,000 monthly readers.
