Education in the Philippines is compulsory at the basic education level, composed of kindergarten, elementary school (grades 1–6), junior high school (grades 7–10), and senior high school (grades 11–12). The educational system is managed by three government agencies by level of education: the Department of Education (DepEd) for basic education; the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for higher education; and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for technical and vocational education. Public education is funded by the national government.
Private schools are generally free to determine their curriculum in accordance with existing laws and regulations. Institutions of higher education are classified as public or private; public institutions are subdivided into state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local colleges and universities (LCUs).
Enrollment in basic education has increased steadily since the effectivity of the K-12 curriculum, first implemented on May 20, 2008, through its 9 years of implementation until June 5, 2017, on April 24, 2012, with over 28 million students enrolled in the 2022–2023 school year. In 2020, there were approximately 32 million learners aged 5 to 24 enrolled nationwide. An additional 640,000 out-of-school youth participated in the Alternative Learning System, while 1.6 million children aged 5 to 17 remained out of school as of 2023. Completion rates for primary and lower secondary education are relatively high, but drop-out rates and barriers to upper secondary and tertiary education remain, particularly among lower-income students.
History Pre-colonial period (900 AD to 1565)
As with most people of the world at this time period, learning by apprenticeship in tradeswork was the norm rather than education that heavily involved writing such as religious literature, scholarly work, and philosophy like those in Medieval Europe or in East Asia which was reserved for the elites, the ruling or priestly class. During the pre-colonial period, most children were provided solely vocational training, mainly supervised by parents, some tribal tutors or those assigned to specific, specialized roles within their communities (for example, the babaylan). In most communities, stories, songs, poetry, dances, medicinal practices and advice regarding all sorts of community life issues were passed from generation to generation, primarily through oral tradition. Some communities utilized a writing system known as baybayin, whose use was wide and varied, though other syllabaries were used throughout the archipelago. Inculcation of reverence for the god Bathala, obedience to authority, loyalty to the family or clan, and respect for truth and righteousness were the chief aims of education.
Spanish period (1863) Formal education was brought to the Philippines by the Spanish, which was primarily conducted by religious orders. Upon learning the local languages and writing systems, they began teaching Christianity, the Spanish language, and Spanish culture. These religious orders opened the first schools and universities as early as the 16th century. Spanish missionaries established schools immediately after reaching the islands. The Augustinians opened a parochial school in Cebu in 1565. The Franciscans took to the task of improving literacy in 1577, aside from the teaching of new industrial and agricultural techniques. The Jesuits followed in 1581, and the Dominicans, in 1587, set up a school in Bataan. The church and the school cooperated to ensure that Christian villages had schools for students to attend.
Schools for boys and girls were then opened. Colegios were opened for boys, ostensibly the equivalent to present-day senior high schools. The Universidad de San Ignacio, founded in Manila by the Jesuits in 1589, was the first colegio. Eventually, it was incorporated into the University of Santo Tomas, College of Medicine and Pharmacology, following the suppression of the Jesuits. Girls had two types of schools – the Beaterio, a school meant to prepare them for the life at convent, and another, a Colegio, meant to prepare them for secular womanhood. The Spanish also introduced printing presses to produce books in Spanish and Tagalog, sometimes using Baybayin. The first book printed in the Philippines dates back to 1590. It was a Chinese language version of Doctrina Christiana. Spanish and Tagalog versions, in both Latin script and the locally used baybayin script, were later printed in 1593. In 1610, Tomás Pinpin, a Filipino printer, writer and publisher, sometimes called the "Patriarch of Filipino Printing", wrote his famous "Librong Pagaaralan nang manga Tagalog nang Uicang Castilla", which was meant to help Filipinos learn the Spanish language. The prologue read:
First Public Schools The Spanish Educational Decree of 1863 provided a free public education system in the Philippines, managed by the government. The decree mandated the establishment of at least one primary school for boys and one for girls in each town under the municipal government's responsibility and the establishment of a regular school for male teachers under the supervision of the Jesuits. Primary education was also declared free and available to every Filipino, regardless of race or social class. Contrary to what the Spanish–American War propaganda tried to depict and current popular media, they were not religious schools; instead, they were schools established, supported, and maintained by the Spanish government.
After implementing the decree, the number of schools and students increased steadily. In 1866, the total population of the Philippines was 4,411,261. The total number of public schools for boys was 841, and the number of public schools for girls was 833. The total number of children attending those schools was 135,098 for boys and 95,260 for girls. In 1892, the number of schools had increased to 2,137, of which 1,087 were for boys and 1,050 for girls. By 1898, enrollment in schools at all levels exceeded 200,000 students.Country Studies: Philippine Education. Retrieved January 24, 2009. There was some opposition to universal education from Spanish priests; only 1.6% of the population gained more than primary school education.
Among those who benefited from the accessible public education system were a burgeoning group of Filipino intellectuals: the Ilustrados ('enlightened ones'), some of whom included José Rizal, Graciano López Jaena, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, and Antonio Luna—all of whom played vital roles in the Propaganda Movement that ultimately inspired the founding of the Katipunan.
Non-Spaniards founded some schools during this period that were not colonial creations. Damián Domingo established in 1823 a fine arts school known as the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura, now the Fine Arts College of the University of the Philippines. In 1868, Doña Margarita Róxas de Ayala established the girls' school La Concordia, once regarded as the best girls' school in the colony. Asunción Ventura, a nun, founded in 1885 an orphanage the Asilo de Looban in Paco, an arrabal of Manila. It was the first orphanage founded by a Filipino and it would later offer academic and vocational instruction.
First Republic
The defeat of Spain following the Spanish–American War led to the short-lived Philippine Independence movement, which established the First Philippine Republic. The schools maintained by Spain for over three centuries were closed briefly but reopened on August 29, 1898, by the Minister of the Interior. The Instituto Burgos (Burgos Institute), the Academia Militar (the country's first military academy), and the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas (Literary University of the Philippines) were established.
Article 23 of the Malolos Constitution mandated that public education would be free and obligatory in all schools of the nation under the First Republic. However, the Philippine–American War hindered its progress. Established in the American-occupied zone, Colegio Filipino (now National University) is a Philippine college that dates from this period and has survived. There also existed for many decades the Rosa Sevilla Memorial School, originally founded on July 15, 1900, as the Instituto de Mujeres, an all-girls private school. The most notable institute of higher learning of this period was the highly regarded and patriotic Liceo de Manila on Calle Dulumbayan, now known as Rizal Avenue. It was established in 1900, and was known to have existed until the 1920s.
American period
About a year after securing Manila, the Americans were keen to open up seven schools with army service members teaching with army command-selected books and supplies. In the same year, 1899, more schools were opened, this time with 24 English-language teachers and 4500 students. In that system, primary education consisted of 6 years of elementary and four years of secondary schooling. Until recently, it prepared students for tertiary-level instruction to earn a degree and secure a job later in life.
A highly centralized, experimental public school system was installed in 1901 by the Philippine Commission and legislated by Act No. 74. The law exposed a severe shortage of qualified teachers by large enrollment numbers in schools. As a result, the Philippine Commission authorized the Secretary of Public Instruction to bring more than 1,000 teachers from the United States, called the Thomasites, to the Philippines between 1901 and 1902. These teachers were scattered throughout the islands to establish barangay schools. The same law established the Philippine Normal School (now the Philippine Normal University) to train aspiring Filipino teachers. Provincial governments supported the high school system. It included particular educational institutions, schools of arts and trades, an agricultural school, and commerce and marine institutes established in 1902 by the Philippine Commission.
Several other laws were passed throughout the period. In 1902, Act No. 372 authorized the opening of provincial high schools. While in 1908, Act No. 1870 initiated the opening of the University of the Philippines, now the country's national university.
However, the emergence of high school education in the Philippines did not occur until 1910. It was borne out of rising numbers in enrollment, widespread economic depression, growing demand by big businesses and technological advances in factories, the emergence of electrification, and the growing need for skilled workers. High schools were created to meet this new job demand, and the curriculum focused on practical job skills that would better prepare students for professional white-collar or skilled blue-collar work. This proved beneficial for both the employer and the employee; the investment in human capital caused employees to become more efficient, which lowered costs for the employer, and skilled employees received a higher wage than those employees with just primary educational attainment.
However, a steady increase in school enrollment has hindered revisions to the then-implemented experimental educational system. Act No. 1801, also known as Gabaldon Law, was passed in 1907, which provided a fund of a million pesos for the construction of concrete school buildings and is one of many attempts by the government to meet this demand. In line with the Filipinization policy of the government, the Reorganization Act of 1916 provided that all department secretaries except the Secretary of Public Instruction must be natural-born Filipinos.