Education Reform in the Philippines

1. Education Reform in
the Philippines
(Isagani Cruz)

2. In the past two decades, the
Philippine government has been
reforming our educational system to
improve the quality of our education.

3. In 2015, the 10 ASEAN countries
will open their borders, and by 2020,
the Philippines will join the APEC
Trade Regime.
-Emmanuel Y. Angeles, Commission on
Higher Education (CHED)

4. Additionally, Angeles (2009)
added that before these two events
happen, we have to prepare our
graduates to be globally
competitive. There are no other
alternatives but to align our degree
programs with those of other
countries.”

5. Based on some studies and
researches conducted, there is a
difficulty raising our competitive
edge with only 10 years in basic
education.

6. Why so soon?
According to Angeles (2009), it is
important to catch up with the rest of
the world soon for “mutual recognition
of qualifications and degrees will be
undertaken by ASEAN countries and
the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.
Thus, HEIs [Higher Education
Institutions] must prepare for it now.
The qualifications of our graduates
must be improved to meet our
development goals.”

7. Furthermore, a good example of how
equivalencies work is the Washington Accord
(1989), an international agreement that specifies
that a professional engineer must have gone to
school for at least 16 years if she or he wants to
practice in another country. With only 10 years of
public basic education and even with 5 years of
engineering, we are still one year short.
Similarly, another often-cited international
agreement is the Bologna Accord (1999), which
specifies that professional accountants,
pharmacists, physical therapists, and so on
should have at least 3 years of undergraduate
education in addition to 12 years of basic
education. Again, our 14-year education cycle is
one year short (The Philippine Star, 2009).

8. National University in
Singapore
Philippines
O Spend 3 years in
college.
O 4 units per subject
or module.
O Most of the General
Education subjects
are taken in
highschool.
O Spend 4 years in
college.
O 3 units per subject or
module.
O Still teach General
Education subjects
such as Algebra,
Statistics, Politics and
Governance, English,
Filipino.

9. The Department of Education
(DepEd) pronounces the new curriculum
which is the K-12 education system that
covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic
education (6 years of primary education, 4
years of junior high school, and 2 years of
senior high school).

10. Some ways that the K-12 education plan will
be beneficial for the Philippines according
to Isagani Cruz (2010)
O Sufficient Instructional Time
O More Skilled and Competent Labor Force
O Recognition as Professionals Abroad
O K-12 Education Will Help Filipinos Gain a
Competitive Edge

11. Therefore, we must support the K-12
educational plan to help improve our
educational system and our economy.
Remember that change in our society
starts with education.

12. References
O https://4freeessays.com/essays/education-
reform-in-the-philippines
O https://charleneangac.wordpress.com/2017/02/0
6/education-in-the-philippines/
O The Philippine Star (2009)

13. Prepared by:
O PRINCESS MARYNEE V. MORGA
O REENA MAE NINA S. LUSTAN