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—1st
semester, 2nd 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.
High School in the Philippines
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 languages 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. 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 . 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 chartered 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.
ACTIVITY 3:
Instructions: Make a table of 4 columns (see sample below). Read very well the handout
provided. Then come up with your answers following the columns.
TOPIC SIMILARITIES DIFFERENCES REACTION
Structure

Primary

Secondary

Vocational
Secondary

Secondary Science
HS
NOTE: Do not include anymore the Higher Education