1. Three government organizations handle education in the Philippines. These are the Department of
Education, Culture, and Sports (DECS), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). In 1999, the Department of Education, Culture and
Sports, which governs both public and private education in all levels, stated that its mission was "to
provide quality basic education that is equitably accessible to all by the foundation for lifelong learning
and service for the common good." The Department also stipulated its vision to "develop a highly
competent, civic spirited, life-skilled, and God-loving Filipino youth who actively participate in and
contribute towards the building of a humane, healthy and productive society." All these ambitions were
embodied in the development strategy called "Philippines 2000."
The academic year in the Philippines is patterned after its wet/cool and dry/hot seasons. The hottest
months of the year are from March to May, thus making them the "summer break." The wet season
starts in June, which also marks the beginning of the academic school year. Beginning 1993, DECS
increased the number of school days from 185 to 200. The school year ends during the first few weeks
of March. The Philippines, a Catholic country, has a two- to three-week break during Christmas in
December and a four- to five-day break at the start of November to celebrate the Day of the Saints and
the Day of the Dead.
The language of instruction has been a much debated topic. For a country dispersed over 7,107 islands,
with 11 languages and 87 dialects, colonized by Spain for more than 300 years, and educated by the
Americans, the decision to pick a particular language of instruction has been very controversial. The
languages used for instruction have switched from Spanish to Tagalog, to English to the local vernacular,
including some Chinese languages, and Arabic, which is used in the southern part of the country.
According to an official publication of the U.S. Library of Congress, the Philippine census reported that
during the 1990s a total of 65 percent of Filipinos understood English. During the last four decades of
the twentieth century, education in all levels had vastly improved. In the compulsory elementary level,
from 1965-1966, there were a total of 5.8 million students enrolled, 4.5 percent of which were in private
institutions. In 1987-1988 these numbers grew to 9.6 million enrolled, 6.6 percent of which were in
private schools. By school year 1999-2000, 12.6 million were enrolled with 7.1 percent in the private
sector. This level is for grades 1 through 6—ages 7 to 12. The various Philippine grade levels are referred
to with cardinal numbers (one, two, three) rather than ordinal numbers (first, second, third). Secondary
education is taught for 4 years from ages 13 to 16.
Primary and secondary schools are taught from Monday to Friday, starting at 7:30 A.M. The school day
begins with a flag raising, national anthem, and pledge of allegiance. Students usually have an hour for

2. lunch. School cafeterias are mostly non-existent and those that exist are largely inadequate. Students
either go home for lunch or pack their lunch. Some parents, usually mothers, come to school to bring
warm lunch for their children. Classes resume for the afternoon, until about 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. In some
areas, due to lack of facilities, certain schools are forced to have double shifts, minimizing the hours
children spend in school.
Access has been a problem for certain sectors of the population and DECS has made this the number
one priority. In the secondary level for 1965-1966, approximately 1.17 million students were enrolled
with 62.3 percent in the private sector. In 1987-1988, there was a total of 3.49 million students enrolled,
40.8 percent of whom were in private schools. By 1999-2000 there was an overall total of 5.1 million
students, with 24 percent in private schools.
Higher education in the Philippines is strongly in the private sector. Most bachelor degrees are for four
years. Students are usually from 17 to 20 years old. In 1985, the private sector of higher education was
close to 80 percent of the student population. Of these institutions one-third are considered non-profit,
while two-thirds function for monetary gain. This has lead to the reputation of certain schools as
"diploma mills" and to the more serious problem of producing unqualified, unemployed, and
underemployed graduates.
During the 1970s, there was a wide discrepancy in the literacy rates of the various regions of the
country. The capital region of Metro Manila had a 95 percent literacy rate; the Central Luzon area had a
90 percent literacy rate while the Western portion of Mindanao had a 65 percent rate. Three principal
indigenous languages in the Manila area are Cebuano in the Visayas, Tagalog and Ilocano in the northern
portion of Luzon. In 1939 Philipino (which is based on the Tagalog language) was made the national
language. Philipino later evolved to Filipino which is based on the languages used in the Philippines.
English still remains the most important non-indigenous language used by media, higher education,
private, primary and secondary schools, government administration, and business. Only a handful of
families have maintained speaking in Spanish. The multiplicity of languages used in the Philippines has
not affected its literacy rate of 94.6 percent, one of the highest in East Asia and the Pacific region.
Technology use is starting to gain momentum in the overall education of the Philippines. In 1999, there
were 93 Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the country. By the beginning of 2001, the participation of
nongovernmental organizations and the private sector in education was evident with the donation of

3. 1,000 personal computers for use during school year 2001-2002 in 1,000 public high schools of 16
regions. The program, called One Thousand PCs, has four major components, namely: curriculum
development with the creation of a one year course on computer education as a specialization in
entrepreneurship; teacher training for recipient schools; courseware development through the creation
of Information Technology materials; and the purchase of hardware from the private sector through the
Adopt-A-School Program. The Department of Trade and Industry chaired this project.
Curricular development is under the jurisdiction of the DECS. Authority slowly trickled down to the
municipal/local levels as the system shifted to decentralize decision-making and empower local schools.
Despite these efforts, much of the important decisions, such as the purchase of all public school
textbooks, is done by DECS.
Important curricular changes needed to respond to emerging student needs are limited due to
budgetary constraints. Three tests are administered to students, the preparation for which must be
addressed through further curricular development. These tests are the National Elementary Aptitude
Test (NEAT), the National Secondary Aptitude Test (NSAT), and the National College Entrance
Examination (NCEE).
The Philippine population grows at a rate of 2.07 percent per year. In July 2000, the estimated
population was 81,159,644 people. About 37 percent of this population was from birth to 14-years-old.
A 2 percent yearly population growth translates to about 1.6 million children born every year. This
growth rate strains the resources of the educational system. During 1999-2000, a 2 percent increase in
the number of students meant 8,000 more classrooms needed. The deficit was 29,000 since DECS was
able to build only 6,000 new rooms for the year. More teachers required (total lack of 21,000 since the
budget allowed for hiring only 4,700 new teachers) 400,000 more desks (of the 2.2 million needed, only
500,000 were purchased) and 10 million additional textbooks with a ratio of 2 students per book. To
alleviate this strain, certain schools hold double sessions (one in the morning and another in the
afternoon) in elementary schools. Some high schools even have triple sessions due to space and
resource problems.
As for gender distribution in the elementary level, male and female students are almost equally
represented, while there are more females students at the secondary and higher education level. In
rural areas, men are expected to do work while women are allowed to pursue education. Males have a
higher rate of failure, dropout, and repetition in both elementary and secondary levels.

4. Read more: Philippines - Educational System—an Overview - Percent, Schools, Private, and Students StateUniversity.com http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1199/Philippines-EDUCATIONALSYSTEM-AN-OVERVIEW.html#ixzz2o3eS3f9a
our present educational system speaks for what kind of government we have.
being a teacher education should not just be teaching what's the context and
content of a book but rather reflection and instilled values formation should
also be noted. Let pursue for change and development and be the tool for a
new genre of education
its informational. But I must admit, 4 curriculum years in the secondary
schools here in Phils. is enough, what should the government do is to
maximize its support to the elem grades teacher, from salaries to modern
teaching styles and trainings to assure really quality learnings among graders.
When they reach high school years, then they will be competitive and more
educated
our educational system is truly in a bad state. we've got problems not because
of corruption alone. lets look at it in a much wider perspective. even our
economy is in trouble. why? we could trace it all to our history. it will explain
everything. our bahala na attitude, Nepotism, our church, our kapit-bahay
mentality - or simply the way we were taught.
One common observation regarding the sad state of tertiary education in the
country is the apparent deterioration of the quality of college students. This is
evident in the deafening passivity among students in most colleges and
universities, coupled with their seeming indifference to participate in shaping
their own education. Compared to students of the 60’s and 70’s, students of
today have more access to a variety of learning and information resources, yet,
their sense of scholarship is way below those of students of yesteryears.
It is ironical that the average college student has gone through ten years of

5. basic education yet when in college, he cannot even speak and write in correct
English or make simple mathematical calculatiuons. His tenses are confused,
his prepositions are misused, and his number sense is just as nil. The most
frustrating part is that he cannot even express his ideas because basically, he
cannot form one. Students of today hardly have common sense at all. What
they have developed through the years is a sense that is common. The only
way of getting an education that students know of is writing anything and
everything said by the teacher and memorizing t6hese verbatim for the exams,
then losing 90% or more of these come vacation time. As a result, they wander
around with a bag of portable mediocrity.
Filipino students are way behind compared to other Asian students. In
Singapore, elementary and high school students are already into information
technology, creative thinking and lifelong education. College Math and Science
in the Philippines are elementary7 school subjects in South Korea and Japan.
The University of the Philippines, which once upon a time, was top of the list
among Asian universities in now ranked 48. The declining quality of education
is inversely proportional to the rising mediocrity of college students through
the years. This phenomenon cannot simply attributed to a single cause but to
interlocking psycho-social, economic, systemic, cultural, as well as
environmental factors.