The education system of the Philippines has been highly influenced by the country’s colonial history.

That history has included periods of Spanish, American and Japanese rule and occupation. The most
important and lasting contributions came during America’s occupation of the country, which began in
1898. It was during that period that English was introduced as the primary language of instruction and a
system of public education was first established—a system modeled after the United States school
system and administered by the newly established Department of Instruction.

The United States left a lasting impression on the Philippine school system. Several colleges and
universities were founded with the goal of educating the nation’s teachers. In 1908, the University of
the Philippines was chartered, representing the first comprehensive public university in the nation’s
history.

Like the United States, the Philippine nation has an extensive and highly inclusive system of education,
including higher education. In the present day, the United States continues to influence the Philippines
education system, as many of the country’s teachers and professors have earned advanced degrees
from United States universities.

Although the Philippine system of education has long served as a model for other Southeast Asian
countries, in recent years that system has deteriorated. This is especially true in the more remote and
poverty-stricken regions of the country. While Manila, the capital and largest city in the Philippines,
boasts a primary school completion rate of nearly 100 percent, other areas of the country, including
Mindanao and Eastern Visayas, have a primary school completion rate of only 30 percent or less. Not
surprisingly, students who hail from Philippine urban areas tend to score much higher in subjects such as
mathematics and science than students in the more rural areas of the country.

Below we will discuss the education system of the Philippines in great detail, including a description of
both the primary and secondary education levels in the country, as well as the systems currently in place
for vocational and university education.

Education in the Philippines: Structure

Education in the Philippines is offered through formal and non-formal systems. Formal education
typically spans 14 years and is structured in a 6+4+4 system: 6 years of primary school education, 4
years of secondary school education, and 4 years of higher education, leading to a bachelor’s degree.
This is one of the shortest terms of formal education in the world.
In the Philippines, the academic school year begins in June and concludes in March, a period that covers
a total of 40 weeks. All higher education institutions operate on a semester system—fall semester,
winter semester and an optional summer term. Schooling is compulsory for 6 years, beginning at age 7
and culminating at age 12. These 6 years represent a child’s primary school education.

High School in the Philippines Although English was the sole language of instruction in the Philippines
form 1935 to 1987, the new constitution prescribed that both Pilipino (Tagalog) and English are the
official language of instruction and communication. After primary school, however, the language of
instruction is almost always English, especially in the country’s urban areas and at most of the nation’s
universities.

The education system is administered and overseen by the Department of Education, a federal
department with offices in each of the country’s 13 regions. Traditionally, the government has found it
difficult to fully fund the entire education system. Because of that, most of the money earmarked for
education goes to the country’s primary schools. Consequently, public school enrollment at the primary
level is about 90 percent, while at the secondary level enrollment typically hovers somewhere around 75
percent.

Education in the Philippines: Primary Education

Primary school education in the Philippines spans 6 years in duration and is compulsory for all students.
This level of education is divided into a four-year primary cycle and a two-year intermediate cycle. In
the country’s public schools, Filipino children generally begin school at age 6 or 7; however, private
schools typically start a year earlier and operate a seven-year curriculum rather than a six-year
curriculum.

At the conclusion of each school year, students are promoted from one grade level to the next,
assuming they meet the achievement standards set for that particular grade. Students are rated in
every subject four times during the school year. A cumulative points system is typically used as the basis
for promotion. To pass a grade, students must earn at least 75 points out of 100, or seventy-five
percent.

During grades one and two in the Philippines, the language of instruction is generally the local dialect, of
which there are over 170 nationally, of the region in which the children reside. English and Pilipino are
taught as second languages. From third grade through sixth grade, or the remainder of primary
education, subjects such as mathematics and science are taught in English, with the social sciences and
humanities courses taught in Pilipino.
Once a student successfully completes each of the six grades of primary school, he or she is awarded a
certificate of graduation from the school they attended. There is no leaving examination or entrance
examination required for admission into the nation’s public secondary schools.

The educational content of the primary school system varies from one grade and one cycle to the next.
As you’ll recall, the primary school system is divided into two cycles:

Primary Cycle. Four years—Grades 1-4, age 6-11

Intermediate Cycle—Grades 5 and 6, age 11-13

There are a number of core subjects that are taught, with varying degrees of difficulty, in all six grades of
primary school. These are:

Language Arts (Pilipino, English and Local Dialect)

Mathematics

Health

Science

Elementary School in Manila In addition to the core subjects above, students in Grades 1-3 also study
civics and culture. In grades 4-6 students study music and art; physical education; home economics and
livelihood; and social studies. Values education and “good manners and right conduct” are integrated in
all learning areas.

All students in primary school are also introduced to Makabayan. According to the Department of
Education, Makabayan is a learning area that serves as a practice environment for holistic learning; an
area in which students develop a healthy personal and national self-identity. In a perfect world, this
type of construction would consist of modes of integrative teaching that will allow students to process
and synthesize a wide variety of skills and values (cultural, vocational, aesthetic, economic, political and
ethical).

Education in the Philippines: Secondary Education

Although secondary education is not compulsory in the Philippines, it is widely attended, particularly in
the more urban areas of the country. At this level, private schools enroll a much higher percentage of
students than at the elementary level. According to statistics from the Department of Education, roughly
45 percent of the country’s high schools are private, enrolling about 21 percent of all secondary school
students.

At the secondary school level there are two main types of schools: the general secondary schools, which
enroll approximately 90 percent of all high school students, and the vocational secondary school.
Additionally, there are also several schools that are deemed “Science Secondary Schools”—which enroll
students who have demonstrated a particular gift in math, science, or technology at the primary school
level. Vocational high schools in the Philippines differ from their General Secondary School counterparts
in that they place more focus on vocationally-oriented training, the trades and practical arts.

Just as they are in primary school, secondary school students are rated four times throughout the year.
Students who fail to earn a rating of 75 percent in any given subject must repeat that subject, although
in most cases they are permitted to enter the next grade. Once a student has completed all four years
of his/her secondary education, earning a 75 percent or better in all subjects, they are presented a
secondary school graduation certificate.

Admission to public schools is typically automatic for those students who have successfully completed
six years of primary education. However, many of the private secondary schools in the country have
competitive entrance requirements, usually based on an entrance examination score. Entrance to the
Science High Schools is also the result of competitive examinations.

Schooling at the secondary level spans four years in duration, grades 7-10, beginning at age 12 or 13 and
culminating at age 16 or 17. The curriculum that students are exposed to depends on the type of school
they attend.

General Secondary Schools

Students in the General Secondary Schools must take and pass a wide variety of courses. Here the
curriculum consists of language or communicative arts (English and Pilipino), mathematics, science,
technology, and social sciences (including anthropology, Philippine history and government, economics,
geography and sociology). Students must also take youth develop training (including physical education,
health education, music, and citizen army training), practical arts (including home economics, agriculture
and fisheries, industrial arts and entrepreneurship), values education and some electives, including
subjects from both academic and vocational pathways.
Vocational Secondary Schools

Although students who opt to study at one of the country’s vocational secondary schools are still
required to take and pass many of the same core academic subjects, they are also exposed to a greater
concentration of technical and vocational subjects. These secondary schools tend to offer technical and
vocational instruction in one of five major fields: agriculture, fishery, trade/technical, home industry,
and non-traditional courses with a host of specializations. The types of vocational fields offered by
these vocational schools usually depend on the specific region in which the school is located. For
example, in coastal regions, fishery is one of the most popular vocational fields offered.

During the initial two years of study at one of the nation’s vocational secondary schools, students study
a general vocational area (see above). During the third and fourth years they must specialize in a
particular discipline within that general vocational area. For instance, a student may take two years of
general trade-technical courses, followed by two years specializing specifically in cabinet making. All
programs at vocational secondary schools contain a combination of theory and practice courses.

Secondary Science High Schools

The Philippine Science High School System is a dedicated public system that operates as an attached
agency of the Philippine Department of Science and Technology. In total, there are nine regional
campuses, with the main campus located in Quezon City. Students are admitted on a case-by-case basis,
based on the results of the PSHS System National Competitive Examination. Graduates of the PSHS are
bound by law to major in the pure and applied sciences, mathematics, or engineering upon entering
college.

The curriculum at the nation’s 9 Secondary Science schools is very similar to that of the General
Secondary Schools. Students follow that curriculum path closely; however, they must also take and pass
a variety of advanced courses in mathematics and science.

Students who complete a minimum of four years of education at any one of the country’s secondary
schools typically receive a diploma, or Katibayan, from their high school. Additionally, they are
rewarded the secondary school Certificate of Graduation (Katunayan) by the Department of Education.
A Permanent Record, or Form 137-A, listing all classes taken and grades earned, is also awarded to
graduating students.

Education in the Philippines: Higher Education

As of this writing, there were approximately 1,621 institutions of higher education in the Philippines, of
which some 1,445 (nearly 90 percent) were in the private sector. There are approximately 2,500,000
students who participate in higher education each year, 66 percent of whom are enrolled in private
institutions.

The public institutions of higher learning include some 112 charted state universities and colleges, with a
total of 271 satellite campuses. There are also 50 local universities, as well as a handful of government
schools whose focus is on technical, vocational and teacher training. Five special institutions also
provide training and education in the areas of military science and national defense.

Before 1994, the overseer of all higher education institutions was the Bureau of Higher Education, a
division of the former Department of Education, Culture and Sports. Today, however, with the passage
of the Higher Education Act of 1994, an independent government agency known as the Commission on
Higher Education (CHED) now provides the general supervision and control over all colleges and
universities in the country, both public and private. CHED regulates the founding and/or closures of
private higher education institutions, their program offerings, curricular development, building
specifications and tuition fees. Private universities and colleges adhere to the regulations and orders of
CHED, although a select few are granted autonomy or deregulated status in recognition of their
dedicated service through quality education and research when they reach a certain level of
accreditation.

The Higher Education Act also had an impact on post-secondary vocational education. In 1995,
legislation was enacted that provided for the transfer of supervision of all non-degree technical and
vocational education programs from the Bureau of Vocational Education, also under the control of the
Department of Education, to a new and independent agency now known as the Technical Education and
Skills Development Authority (TESDA). The establishment of TESDA has increased emphasis on and
support for non-degree vocational education programs.

Higher education institutions can apply for volunteer accreditation through CHED—a system modeled
after the regional accreditation system used in the United States. There are four levels of accreditation:
Level I. Gives applicant status to schools that have undergone a preliminary survey and are capable of
acquiring accredited status within two years.

Level II. Gives full administrative deregulation and partial curricular autonomy, including priority in
funding assistance and subsidies for faculty development.

Level III. Schools are granted full curricular deregulation, including the privilege to offer distance
education programs.

Level IV. Universities are eligible for grants and subsidies from the Higher Education Development Fund
and are granted full autonomy from government supervision and control.

University Education

The credit and degree structure of university education in the Philippines bears a striking resemblance
to that of the United States. Entrance into Philippine universities and other institutions of higher
education is dependent on the possession of a high school Certificate of Graduation and in some cases
on the results of the National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT), or in many colleges and universities
the results of their own entrance examinations.

There are essentially three degree stages of higher education in the Philippines: Bachelor (Batsilyer),
Master (Masterado) and PhD ((Doktor sa Pilospiya).

Bachelor Degrees

Bachelor degree programs in the Philippines span a minimum of four years in duration. The first two
years are typically dedicated to the study of general education courses (63 credits), with all classes
counting towards the major the student will undertake in the final two years. Certain bachelor degree
programs take five years rather than four years to complete, including programs in agriculture,
pharmacy and engineering.

Master Degrees

Master degrees in the Philippines typically span two years for full-time students, culminating with a
minor thesis or comprehensive examination. To qualify for a Master’s degree, students must possess a
bachelor’s degree in a related field, with an average grade equal to or better than 2.00, 85 percent or B
average. Certain professional degrees, such as law and medicine are begun following a first bachelor
degree. These programs, however, span far beyond the normal two years of study.

PhD Degrees

PhD degrees in the Philippines, also known as a Doctor of Philosophy, involve a great deal of coursework,
as well as a dissertation that may comprise from one-fifth to one-third of the final grade. Admission into
one of the country’s PhD programs is very selective, requiring, at minimum, a Master’s degree with a B
average or better. Most PhD programs span two to four years beyond the Master’s degree, not
counting the time it takes to complete the dissertation. Topics for dissertations must be approved by
the faculty at the university at which the student is studying.

Non-University Higher Education (Vocational and Technical)

In recent years, vocational and technical education has become very popular in the Philippines.
Technical and vocational schools and institutes offer programs in a wide range of disciplines, including
agriculture, fisheries, technical trades, technical education, hotel and restaurant management, crafts,
business studies, secretarial studies, and interior and fashion design. Interested candidates who wish to
pursue their education at one of the country’s post-secondary vocational schools must have at least a
high school diploma and a Certificate of Graduation to qualify. Vocational and technical programs lead
to either a certificate (often entitled a Certificate of Proficiency) or a diploma. The Philippines’
Professional Regulation Commission regulates programs for 38 different professions and administers
their respective licensure examinations.

______________________________________

he nation’s fixation with education was shown to be pragmatically contexted. Many Filipino families
make incredible sacrifices to have a son or daughter finish high school and, whenever possible, college.
Sadly, however, their principal concern has not been to gain a functional education but to secure a
formal certification for completing the necessary years in high school or college – regardless of those
years’ substantive educational value.

Not education per se but the paper diploma one receives makes a crucial difference as poor Filipinos try
to land whatever job there is in a normally depressed job market. In the private sector as well as in many
civil society settings, unscrupulous persons and agencies are quick to spot and work the huge market for
milled diplomas. They waste little time in putting up substandard high schools and colleges all over the
country. With poorly trained, grossly underpaid teachers and ill-equipped school facilities, these private
"educational" institutions – no more than thinly-veiled mercenary operations – produce mostly
dysfunctional graduates, young people who are unable to think or express themselves in any natural or
synthetic language, often illiterate as well as innumerate and pitifully inadequate when confronted by
analytical chores.

Very few private schools can survive this critical observation. Unfortunately, these institutions are
normally beyond the reach of the poor. Their high tuition and other school fees, moderated at times by
well-meaning subsidies for the economically disadvantaged, actually intimidate even those from the
middle class. Other than winning the lottery or coming across some surprising legacy, the only way the
less than wealthy may avail of this better education is by investing in pre-need educational plans. (Here,
the hazard is in choosing a good company. The market teems with opportunistic groups selling
educational plans and later heinously leaving their trusting clients with nothing but broken dreams. This
columnist is fortunate in his choice of the Philippine Educational Trust and Pension Plans, a company
that apparently takes its commitments seriously. Given the double whammy of the 1997 regional
financial crisis and the much more recent government move to deregulate school tuition and other fees
– both grossly undermining actuarial projections for current educational costs and in many cases
doubling them – this company has chosen to honor its contractual obligations instead of looking for
legal loopholes and fudging its now immensely costly responsibilities.)

The incompetence and fecklessness of most private schools has been matched by government
institutions tasked with servicing the educational needs of young Filipinos. Despite dramatic
constitutional and other legal provisions proclaiming the education of Filipinos as an urgent governance
concern, the quality of education nationwide has continuously deteriorated. This is a fact amply
documented by various studies of Philippine education, from the 1971 Presidential Commission to Study
Philippine Education to the series of Senate education and other commitee reports in the 1980s and
1990s as well as other more recent studies done by the Department of Education, the UNESCO and
other interested parties. In the last three weeks, Philippine media feasted on the Department of
Education’s statistic that only half of one percent of 1.4 million elementary school graduates taking a
high school readiness test passed at the 75 percent level. (Struck by feelings of compassion as well as
sheer pragmatism — DepEd could not accommodate more than 700,000 students in a remedial one-
year course to prepare them for high school – the passing mark was promptly lowered to 35 percent and
only 700,000 failed to make the grade. This questionable exercise of pragmatically-indicated compassion
is nothing new; in the DepEd, there are so called transmutation tables that allow students to pass when
they correctly answer 15 percent of a given competency test.)

In comparative international performance, Filipinos students suffer much relative to Singaporeans,

Koreans, Japanese, Thais and other nationalities, most particularly in mathematics and science. In
regional rankings of Asian universities and colleges in the late 90s, Philippine institutions of higher
learning – those that three to four decades ago basked in the limelight and enjoyed excellent academic
reputations – could not rank better than 40 among some 60 competitors where 1 is best and 60 is
farthest from being best. Many of the Southeast Asian schools that used to send their faculty and
promising students to study in the Philippines have actually gained superior ratings than their Philippine
counterparts.

The unmistakable decline in the quality of Philippine education and the nation’s educational institutions
did not take place within a single decade. Some of the reasons for this deterioration worked their effects
over several decades and might even be traced to some efforts to try reversing a definitely poor
condition. When scarce national resources are budgeted to deliberately serve educational objectives –
as in the constitutional provision mandating that education must account for the single biggest
budgetary outlay in any given year – how can the operational results be other than positive? When the
leading public educational institutions commit themselves to intensive faculty development and other
programs for institutional development, how can the interests of a public in need of more and better
education suffer?

There are many paradoxes in Philippine education. A final column will be devoted to exploring some of
the more incredible ones. That way, more Filipinos might get to understand that noble intentions and
pious declarations do not suffice in any serious strategy of educational development.

And better educated on this score, this nation might yet do what needs to be done.