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.
Although English was the sole language of instruction in the Philippines from
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
 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.
COLUMNS
COMMENTARY
Tertiary education challenges
By: Ching Jorge - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 10:51 PM September 02, 2011
Tertiary education responds to three distinct national goals. First, it aims to
educate the youth to become active and productive members of society. Second, it
seeks to meet and match industry demand with a competent and globally
competitive workforce. Finally, through a continuing effort to reach global
education standards, our universities aim to increase the quality of human capital
and productivity vis-à-vis national and economic progress.
Naturally, many issues continue to plague our tertiary education system.
Substandard institutions habitually fail to produce graduates with industry-standard
competencies. Lately, we have seen the emergence of institutions that take
advantage of industry trends by offering courses that aim solely to generate more
revenue for the institution rather than deliver quality education to its enrollees. We
have also seen the proliferation of  so-called state and community colleges that
create poor options for students by providing substandard education. Given these
circumstances, the following tertiary education components now deserve tighter
scrutiny.
1. Teacher quality. Do college instructors consistently meet the minimum
qualifications as faculty?  Do they have the skills and experience to guide the
students in their chosen programs, and do they exhibit the professionalism and
dedication needed to  inculcate the discipline of scholarly inquiry?
2. Quality of programs and course offerings.  Are the course offerings designed
to provide students with the needed skills and knowledge to become competitive
individuals, achievers in the workplace, or have they just been re-programmed to
meet market demand and generate more revenue for the school at the expense
of quality?
3. Governance. How are these schools managed? Are they run by education
professionals? Are the schools affected by politics or are they used for political
motivations and gain? Do the school administrators have the professionalism and
expertise to run the schools?
Consider the nursing sector, for instance. We now have an oversupply of nursing
graduates. However, the low passing rates of licensure examinations are a huge
cause for concern. We can only speculate that the apparent abundance of
nursing graduates who fail their licensure exams may be due to the penchant of
some rather unscrupulous nursing colleges to sacrifice quality in favor of higher
enrollment figures.

Then there are the Teacher Education Institutions. The Unesco report on
Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability states:  “Teacher
Education Institutions fulfill a vital role in the global education community; they
have the potential to bring changes within educational systems that will shape
the knowledge and skills of future generations.” The culture, character and
development of our nation rely on the quality of teachers we produce. These are
the individuals who mold the minds of our future generations. It is necessary to
make sure that these institutions are monitored strictly for compliance in their
curriculum and values, and that they are provided with the innovative teaching
strategies and methods that can help them reach out to students and achieve
global standards for teacher education.

The Commission on Higher Education has announced that it will step up

efforts monitor substandard colleges and universities. The CHEd is fully aware
that it needs to actively regulate all programs—including Nursing—that produce
unemployable graduates or exhibit low or even zero passing rates in board
exams. It faces the challenge of making sure that all non-performing schools are
closed and minimum qualifications for faculty are monitored. It must also exhibit
strong governance over state colleges and universities as well as colleges
developed by local governments to ensure compliance with quality education
standards.

Public and private higher education should not compete but complement
each other, with the primary objective of meeting national development goals.
Educational institutions must develop programs to reflect the needs of education
and the youth.
Erda Tech Foundation is an educational and training institution that aims to
provide technical/vocational skills to disadvantaged youth. It provides five-year
secondary education programs with a six-month training in the final year. Over
the years, with its focused, quality programs, it has produced graduates that are
able to meet industry demand in their respective fields.

The One School calls itself a non-traditional college and puts emphasis on
personalized learning. It offers a three-year undergraduate course in
Entrepreneurship and Fashion Design and Marketing. The One School employs
alternative education techniques where mentoring, low teacher-student ratios,
one-on-one instructions are arranged. Its curriculum and method of teaching
have adapted to the changing learning needs of students today.

These two programs in different sectors show that excellence in learning can
be achieved with innovation, quality education and with the formation of
skilled, empowered individuals as its top priority. Setting up schools for higher
education is much more than providing infrastructure. It is about being able to
produce individuals who can compete locally and globally in their chosen
fields. With this we will be able to produce a highly educated citizenry that will
pave the way to progress in the country.

Ching Jorge is the executive director of Bato Balani Foundation, an

Asia21 Fellow of the Asia Society, lead convenor of Young Public Servants
and a trustee of the International Center for Innovation Transformation and
Excellence in Governance.