Many children in the Philippines drop out of school early, with only 67% finishing 6th grade. Basic education remains problematic with underqualified teachers, poor facilities, and malnutrition. Access to quality higher education is limited to a few elite private universities, which are unaffordable for most. Overall, the education system is highly segregated, with the vast majority unable to earn a college degree due to financial barriers.

1. EM 623
Dr. Rupert Sanggalang
Realities in Philippine Education
Ma. Rita Luz M. De Padua
Discussant

2. 1. Many Filipino children drop out
of school early
• Only 67 percent of Filipino children
finish grade 6.
• Also, 8 percent of these drop-outs
happen between grades 1 and 2,
which means these people will
most likely never be literate. The
rest drops out mostly between
grades 4 and 6, which creates a
large group of out-of-school youth.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-
facts

3. 2. The most popular tertiary
education courses are always the
same in the Philippines
• When it comes to higher education in
Philippines today, most students
almost always choose the same two
topics: business management and
commerce.
• For the past 10 to 15 years, this has
not changed at all. Other courses like
teacher training, engineering,
mathematics, and medical programs
lag far behind.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

4. 3. Basic education remains
problematic in the Philippines
• Because of the many problems that
the Filipino education system is
already facing, it seems hard to think
that it could ever change.
• In fact, adding more years in the
same poor conditions for these pupils
is very detrimental: they are
malnourished, teachers are
underqualified and underpaid and
classrooms are ill-equipped.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

5. 4. There are a few elite colleges
and universities in the Philippines
• Recently, the Philippines became
more and more famous for its
tertiary education institutes.
• In fact, there are 3 top-notch
universities in the country: Ateneo
de Manila University, De la Sale
University and the University of
Sto. Tomas. Unfortunately, while
they are very good, tuition fees are
very high in these institutes.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-
facts

6. 5. Great private universities are very
profitable in the Philippines
• The reason why the 3 universities I
just told you about are so successful
is probably because of how
expensive they are. This means they
can hire better teachers, build the
best facilities and admit better
students.
• Also, this is a very profitable
business, even though only students
from the narrow elite class can enter.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

7. 6. The Filipino education system as
a whole is very segregated
• You already know it, only the elite can
access the best universities in the
Philippines, but this means that many
others have to sacrifice their
education.
• Middle-class students can afford
some private schools, which provide
better education, but they will still not
get the best jobs afterward. Future
leaders are taught in elitist institutes.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

8. 7. 8 big private colleges and
universities in Manila represent 50
percent of the total enrollment
• Manila, the capital city of the
Philippines, has many of the best
private educational institutes in the
country.
• As a matter of fact, 8 of them
represent half of the total private
tertiary school enrollment in the
country! In metropolitan Manila, this
number jumps to 70 percent.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

9. 8. Many students attending top
colleges in the Philippines still live
in poor conditions
• The 8 big private colleges I just told
you about are Arellano University,
Centro Escolar University, Far
Eastern University, FEATI, Manila
Central University, Manuel L. Quezon
University, University of Manila, and
University of the East.
• Despite how good they are, many
students there come from rural
areas… so they are just crammed in
sordid dormitories and boarding
houses.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

10. 9. Filipinos consider education to be
a great ladder for social mobility
• Even though education is not really
good in the Philippines (to say the
least), many Filipinos consider it to be
a great ladder for social mobility.
• This means that higher classes are
more educated. And as you know,
despite this mindset, inequity still
continues in the country.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

11. 10. Most Filipinos cannot earn a
college degree for financial reasons
• The vast majority of the Philippines
population is very poor. Because of
this, it is nearly impossible for them to
earn a college degree, because
higher education is majorly privatized.
• With the current state of education, it
is also hard for them to simply reach
college in the first place.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

12. 11. The public sector becomes
smaller as students progress on the
educational ladder in the Philippines
• As Filipino students progress through
their studies, fewer and fewer state-
funded public institutes are available
to them.
• In elementary education, 95.2 percent
of institutes are public. In secondary
education, this number goes down to
60.8 percent. And finally, in tertiary
education, it is only 25.3 percent.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

13. 12. The literacy rate is higher than
the enrollment rate in the Philippines
• Considering the current state of the
Filipino education system, it might
seem surprising that the country’s
literacy rate is 97 percent.
• However, being literate does not
mean being skilled for high-level
work. Even though the vast majority
of the population is literate, only a
little more than 40 percent of pupils
finish high school.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

14. 13. Three agencies govern the
Filipino education system
• In the Philippines, three agencies are
involved when it comes to the
education system: the Department
Education for basic education, the
Commission on Higher Education for
tertiary and graduate education, and
the Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority for technical
and vocational courses as well as
middle education.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

15. 14. It is written in the Filipino
Constitution: the State has to
prioritize education overall
• The 1987 Filipino Constitution literally
states that “the State shall assign the
highest budgetary priority to
education”.
• Despite the situation, this is still great
news for the country’s education
system. The public education sector
uses this budget to build and maintain
facilities, hire teachers and develop
curricula.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

16. 15. The Philippines used to be the
only country in Asia with a 10-year
pre-university cycle
• The fact that the Philippines used to
be one of only 3 countries in the
world, alongside Angola and Djibouti,
to have a 10-year pre-university
cycle, and that it took the country so
long to move forward (only since
2013), is a good way to see why
education takes so long to meet
international standards.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

17. 16. There are Islamic schools in the
Philippines, but they do not follow
the national curriculum
• Muslim schools, or madaris, exist in
the Philippines. There, students are
taught the Arabic language as well as
Islamic values.
• However, these schools do not follow
the Filipino education curriculum,
“turning students into virtual
foreigners in their own country”,
according to the Department of
Education of Philippines in 2004.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

18. 17. School years in the Philippines
have a limited amount of days
• By law, Filipino school years cannot
exceed 220 school days, including
suspended ones due to natural or
man-made disasters.
• Also, the school year cannot start
earlier than the first Monday of June,
and not later than the last day of
August.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

19. 18. The successive colonizations of
the Philippines have impacted its
education
• The Philippines does not really have
an education system of its own.
Instead, it was highly influenced by its
colonial history.
• Depending on the period, it was either
Spain, the United States, or Japan
that ruled and occupied the country.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

20. 19. The United States left its mark on
the Filipino school system
• Among all countries that controlled
the Philippines at some point, it is the
United States that left the biggest
mark.
• Even though the Philippines is now
an independent country, English is
the official teaching medium, because
of the United States occupation that
started in 1898.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

21. 20. The Filipino education system
used to be a model for neighboring
countries
• That’s right, the poor, inefficient, and
inequalitarian education system in the
Philippines used to be a model for the
neighboring countries. This is
probably because it used to mimic the
American system, which was quite
new at that time.
• As you know though, it has
deteriorated a lot since then.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

22. 21. University education in the
Philippines works with credit
attribution
• When it comes to tertiary education,
the resemblance between the Filipino
and the American education system is
striking.
• To enter a university, students need to
have the high school Certificate of
Graduation or pass a specific
entrance examination. The credit
structure is also similar.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

23. 22. Bachelor’s degrees in the
Philippines consist of 4 years
• If a student wants to pursue a
bachelor’s degree in the Philippines,
they will need to go through a
minimum of 4 years of studies.
• The first two years are dedicated to
academic and general courses, while
the final two are more specific.
Students need to choose a major
halfway through their bachelor’s
studies.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

24. 23. Students who have a bachelor’s
degree can pursue a master’s
degree in the Philippines
• The next step after the bachelor’s
degree is, as in many other countries,
the master’s degree.
• These last for 2 years, and end with a
small thesis as well as a
comprehensive examination, most of
the time. To be accepted in a master’s
program, students need to possess a
bachelor’s degree in a similar field.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

25. 24. The last step of the Filipino
education system is the PhD degree
• The peak of education in the
Philippines is the PhD degree.
• Most courses are very academic, and
there is an important dissertation that
students need to write, which counts
for a fifth or a third of the final note.
Admissions to PhD programs are very
selective.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts

26. 25. Vocational and technical
education is on the rise in the
Philippines
• In the past few years, more and more
Filipino students have chosen
vocational and technical institutes as
their tertiary education.
• These schools offer a very wide
range of subjects, like agriculture,
technical trades, hotel and restaurant
management, and interior and fashion
design.
Source:
https://www.kevmrc.com/education-in-the-philippines-facts