The education system of the Philippines has been highly influenced by the country’s colonial history.

That history has included times of Spanish, American and Japanese standard and occupation. The most significant and enduring commitments came during America's control of the nation, which started in 1898. It was during that period that English was presented as the essential language of guidance and an arrangement of government funded training was first settled—a framework displayed after the United States educational system and controlled by the recently settled Department of Instruction.

The United States had an enduring effect on the Philippine educational system. A few schools and colleges were established with the objective of instructing the country's instructors. In 1908, the University of the Philippines was contracted, speaking to the main extensive state funded college in the country's history.

Like the United States, the Philippine country has a broad and exceptionally comprehensive arrangement of instruction, including advanced education. In the current day, the United States keeps on affecting the Philippines instruction framework, the same number of the nation's educators and teachers have earned progressed degrees from United States colleges.

Despite the fact that the Philippine arrangement of instruction has since quite a while ago filled in as a model for other Southeast Asian nations, lately that framework has decayed. This is particularly evident in the more far off and neediness stricken areas of the nation. While Manila, the capital and biggest city in the Philippines, flaunts a grade school culmination pace of about 100%, different zones of the nation, including Mindanao and Eastern Visayas, have an elementary school fulfillment pace of just 30 percent or less. As anyone might expect, understudies who hail from Philippine metropolitan regions will in general score a lot higher in subjects, for example, arithmetic and science than understudies in the more rustic territories of the nation.

Underneath we will talk about the instruction arrangement of the Philippines in incredible detail, including a depiction of both the essential and auxiliary training levels in the nation, just as the frameworks at present set up for professional and college training.

Education in the Philippines:  Structure

Instruction in the Philippines is offered through formal and non-formal frameworks. Formal instruction regularly ranges 14 years and is organized in a 6+4+4 framework: 6 years of elementary school training, 4 years of optional school training, and 4 years of advanced education, prompting a four year college education. This is perhaps the briefest term of formal training on the planet.

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—fall semester, winter 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.

Although English was the sole language of instruction in the Philippines form 1935 to 1987, the new constitution prescribed that both Pilipino (Tagalog) and English are the official language 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 instruction framework is directed and regulated by the Department of Education, a government division with workplaces in every one of the nation's 13 districts. Customarily, the legislature has thought that it was hard to completely support the whole training framework. Thus, the greater part of the cash reserved for training goes to the nation's grade schools. Subsequently, state funded school enlistment at the essential level is around 90 percent, while at the auxiliary level enlistment regularly drifts something close to 75 percent.

Education in the Philippines:  Primary Education

Grade school training in the Philippines traverses 6 years in length and is obligatory for all understudies. This degree of instruction is partitioned into a four-year essential cycle and a two-year halfway cycle. In the nation's state funded schools, Filipino youngsters for the most part start school at age 6 or 7; notwithstanding, non-public schools ordinarily start a year sooner and work a seven-year educational plan as opposed to a six-year educational plan.

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.  English and Pilipino are taught as second languages.  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

Elementary School in ManilaIn 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

Albeit optional instruction isn't necessary in the Philippines, it is generally joined in, especially in the more metropolitan zones of the nation. At this level, non-public schools select an a lot higher level of understudies than at the rudimentary level. As per insights from the Department of Education, around 45 percent of the nation's secondary schools are private, selecting around 21 percent of all auxiliary school understudies.

At the optional school level there are two primary sorts of schools: the overall auxiliary schools, which select roughly 90 percent of all secondary school understudies, and the professional optional school. Moreover, there are likewise a few schools that are esteemed "Science Secondary Schools"— which select understudies who have exhibited a specific blessing in math, science, or innovation at the grade school level. Professional secondary schools in the Philippines contrast from their General Secondary School partners in that they place more spotlight on professionally arranged preparing, the exchanges and reasonable expressions.

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

In spite of the fact that understudies who select to learn at one of the nation's professional auxiliary schools are as yet needed to take and pass a large number of a similar center scholarly subjects, they are additionally presented to a more prominent convergence of specialized and professional subjects. These optional schools will in general offer specialized and professional guidance in one of five significant fields: agribusiness, fishery, exchange/specialized, home industry, and non-conventional courses with a large group of specializations. The sorts of professional fields offered by these professional schools for the most part rely upon the particular district where the school is found. For instance, in waterfront areas, fishery is one of the most well known professional fields advertised.

During the underlying two years of study at one of the country's professional auxiliary schools, understudies study an overall professional zone (see above). During the third and fourth years they should represent considerable authority in a specific order inside that overall professional region. For example, an understudy may take two years of general exchange specialized courses, trailed by two years practicing explicitly in bureau making. All projects at professional auxiliary schools contain a mix of hypothesis 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 charted 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.