Philippines - Scholarship grants and job opportunities tied to government's technical vocation program have helped keep the literacy and employment percentage in Cavite on the highest level, provincial officials said. As reflected in the latest records and statistics, Cavite's literacy rate stands at 96.52% while employment is at 84.40%, which are the highest figures for any province in the country. Cavite is the country's most densely-populated area with over 3.3 million people now living in the province's four cities and 19 towns. It also has the biggest number of overseas Filipino working residents and industrial and commercial establishments in the country, records showed. What helps buoy the literacy rate, officials said, are scholarship grants being given every now and then to underprivileged youth.
The literacy and employment feats are attributed to the concerted efforts of municipal and city officials and the province's seven district representatives to uplift the lives of their constituents in their respective localities. In the province's 5th district, covering Carmona, Silang and General Mariano Alvarez (GMA) towns, lone Representative Roy M. Loyola has sponsored 188 scholars who were endorsed by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to undergo training for restaurant and coffee shop food and beverages services, ''hilot'' (wellness massage) and call centers in the area from January to February of this year.
