Education

Philippine’s education was heavily influenced by its colonial history. The most critical contribution to its education came from America’s occupation of the country, which started in 1898. It was then when English was introduced as the primary language of instruction, and public education was first established. A lot of schools were first made for the purpose of educating the country's teachers. Present day, the Philippines has an extensive and highly inclusive education system. The United States continues to influence its education, as numerous teachers and professors earned advanced degrees from Universities in America.

The formal education system of the Philippines is structured in a 6+4+4 structure; six years of primary school, four years of secondary school, and four years of higher education (leading to a bachelor’s degree). The academic school year starts in June, and ends in March, covering a total of 40 weeks of school. Higher education institutions work on a semester system; fall semester, winter semester and an optional summer semester. The new constitution appoints both English and Filipino as the official languages of instruction and communication, although after primary school almost always English is used as the language of instruction. 

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The Department of Education administers the education system in the 13 official regions of the Philippines. Generally the government has found it difficult to fund the entire education system, therefore most of the funds are concentrated towards primary schools. This is why the public school enrollment for primary school is about 90%, whilst the secondary school enrollment hovers around 70%. 

Despite the fact that the Philippine’s education was depicted as a model for other Southeast Asian countries, the system has been recently declining. Whilst in Manilla, the capital, enjoys a primary school completion rate of almost 100%, other areas including Mindanao and Eastern Visayas have a primary school completion rate of 30% or lower.