HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
Education in the Philippines has undergone several stages of development from the pre-Spanish times to the present. In meeting the needs of the society, education serves as focus of emphases/priorities of the leadership at certain periods/epochs in our national struggle as a race.
As early as in pre-Magellanic times, education was informal, unstructured, and devoid of methods. Children were provided more vocational training and less academics (3 Rs) by their parents and in the houses of tribal tutors.
The pre-Spanish system of education underwent major changes during the Spanish colonization. The tribal tutors were replaced by the Spanish Missionaries. Education was religion-oriented. It was for the elite, especially in the early years of Spanish colonization. Access to education by the Filipinos was later liberalized through the enactment of the Educational Decree of 1863 which provided for the establishment of at least one primary school for boys and girls in each town under the responsibility of the municipal government; and the establishment of a normal school for male teachers under the supervision of the Jesuits. Primary instruction was free and the teaching of Spanish was compulsory. Education during that period was inadequate, suppressed, and controlled.
The defeat of Spain by American forces paved the way for Aguinaldo’s Republic under a Revolutionary Government. The schools maintained by Spain for more than three centuries were closed for the time being but were reopened on August 29, 1898 by the Secretary of Interior. The Burgos Institute in Malolos, the Military Academy of Malolos, and the Literary University of the Philippines were established. A system of free and compulsory elementary education was established by the Malolos Constitution.
An adequate secularized and free public school system during the first decade of American rule was established upon the recommendation of the Schurman Commission. Free primary instruction that trained the people for the duties of citizenship and avocation was enforced by the Taft Commission per instructions of President McKinley. Chaplains and non-commissioned officers were assigned to teach using English as the medium of instruction.
A highly centralized public school system was installed in 1901 by the Philippine Commission by virtue of Act No. 74. The implementation of this Act created a heavy shortage of teachers so the Philippine Commission authorized the Secretary of Public Instruction to bring to the Philippines 600 teachers from the U.S.A. They were the Thomasites.
Year Official Name of Department Official Titular Head Legal Bases
1863 Superior Commission of Primary Instruction Chairman Educational Decree of 1863
1901-1916 Department of Public Instruction General Superintendent Act. No. 74 of the Philippine Commission, Jan. 21, 1901
1916-1942 Department of Public Instruction Secretary Organic Act Law of 1916 (Jones Law)
1942
2. • The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,641 islands with a total land
area of 300,000 km2.
• Its archipelagic nature highlights some of the issues on access
to education, particularly the challenge of reaching small
islands.
• Moreover, within the major land masses are terrains that also pose
barriers to education provision.
• Though road networks are improving, there are still many areas that
are difficult to reach.
• The country is also prone to natural disasters such as typhoons,
volcanic eruptions, floods, and earthquakes.
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3. Population:
• 100.98 million in 2015 (with a sex ratio of 104 males to 100
females) and its population was estimated to reach 108.77 million
in 2020,5 making the Philippines the 13th most populous country in
the world. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimates an
average annual population growth of 1.16% until 2030.
Official languages: Filipino and English.
Indigenous languages:
• More than 170, most of which have various dialects.
• The population of the Philippines is ethnically diverse, and there
are estimated to be 14–17 million indigenous people.
• (IP) across the Philippines, belonging to 110 ethno-linguistic
groups.
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6. The Philippines is a lower middle-income country with a fast-
growing economy before COVID-19.
Sound economic fundamentals and a globally recognized
competitive workforce reinforced the growth momentum.
Having sustained an average annual growth of 6.4% between
2010–2019 from an average of 4.6% between 2001–2009, the
country was on its way from being a lower middle-income country
with a gross national income per capita of USD3,830 in 2018 to
an upper middle-income country in the near term.
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7. The Philippine economy is consumption-driven, fueled in part by
the large domestic market and remittances.
From 2000–2018, private consumption represented 73.7% of the
total economy and contributed three-fourths of economic growth.
Remittances from overseas Filipinos accounted for an average of
11% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 2000–2016, far
outstripping other East Asia Pacific countries (0.4% over the same
period) and other lower middle-income countries (4.4%).
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the economy are
evident: the employment rate fell from 94.6% in July 2019 to 91.3%
in October 2020, while underemployment worsened from 13.6% to
14.4% over the same period.13 In December 2020, the Government
of the Philippines forecast an 8.5%–9.5% contraction of the GDP in
2020
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8. The regional disparities in underemployment are significant,
with rates in October 2020 from 8% in Central Luzon, 9.1% in
CAR, and 11.1% in NCR, to 22.2% in Region IV-B and 29.1% in
Bicol Region.15
The disparity by gender is very significant for the Labor Force
Participation Rate: 73% for males and 49% for females in 2019
and 2020.
This points to the persisting traditional gender roles in Philippine
society, despite being shown later in this plan that females have
better education outcomes than males. The country, it seems, is
not maximizing the potential of a significant portion of its human
resources.
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9. According to UNDP, the mean years of schooling completed was 9.4
in 2019. According to UNESCO, the school life expectancy in 2018
was 6.13 in elementary education (6.01 for females, 6.25 for males)
and 5.06 in secondary education (5.33 females, 4.80 males).
The access to communication technologies has proven to be a
key element in the education system’s ability to respond to
crises such as that caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the pandemic, there already was a high nationwide coverage
of cell phones (87% of households) but despite a rapid increase in
recent years, only 17% of Filipino adults have access to broadband
internet.
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10. The Human Development Index (HDI), for 2020, ranked the Philippines
107th out of 189 countries; it is included in the group categorized as High
Human Development.
Over a span of 29 years, the country’s index improved gradually by 0.125
points.
The nationwide poverty
incidence fell to 16.6% in
2018 compared to 23.3%
in 2015.20.
The nationwide poverty
incidence fell to 16.6% in
2018 compared to 23.3%
in 2015.20
However, an analysis of
child poverty indicated
that 31.4% of children are
living below the poverty
line.
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