The Educational System in the Philippines

The Philippine Constitution states that “The State shall establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people and society”(Art. IV Sec. 2). It shows that every Filipino be provided of quality basic education needed for lifelong learning. The Department of Education which is being the education arm of the state to make this responsibility and accountability to the people, its citizen, must take actions for its realization. All throughout the country, there are several institutions both public and private that strive hard to meet this goal and objective of the educational system as a whole. Thereby formulating this educational goal and objective will determine the whole subject or subject matter to be covered and will guide in the selection of the content to be given stress or emphasis according to the needs, scientific studies and philosophy of education. Moreover, it will also guide the institution in determining what learning activities and experiences should be used in developing the content. This contributes as the guiding principle of the system towards attaining its educational goals. As stated from the 1992 Manual of Regulations for Private Schools, the following objectives are:

To provide the basic knowledge and develop the foundation skills, attitudes and values, including their moral and spiritual dimensions essential to the child’s essential development and necessary for living in and contributing to a developing changing social milieu. To provide learning experiences which increase the child’s awareness of and responsiveness to the changes in society, and to prepare him for constructive and effective investment. To promote and intensify the child’s knowledge of, identification with and love for the nation, and the people to which he belongs. To promote work experience which develops and enhances the child’s orientation to the world of work and creativity in order to prepare him to engage in honest and gainful work (Sec. 8). To continue to promote the objectives of elementary education, but shifting in emphasis from the mastery of the basic tools of learning, expression and understanding to the use and extension of the tools for exploring and acquiring intellectual, social, moral and physical concepts, ideals, attitudes and skills in   order to develop the whole  human   being.  

 To discover and enhance, in addition, the different aptitudes and interests of the individual student so as to equip him with skills for productive endeavor and thus prepare him for work in the real world and/or further formal studies in higher education (Sec. 9).

These are the elementary and secondary objectives respectively and the same objectives stated under Batas Pambansa 232 (Educational Act of 1982). These manifest a clear vision and organized plan of the educational system for the Filipinos in responding to the call of globalization and hard competition of survival. However, this big vision that the system is trying to implement in the vast horizon of educational realm as a primary solution that the government sees in it has no effect on the problems encountered and suffered by most Filipino. Still, the education seems to be an impossible dream in assuring its promise of good life in the future for it provides the citizen below standard or low quality education needed for life long learning.

As years progress, the country fails to upgrade these standards and results to an insufficient education for the public. The poor quality of basic education is one of the reasons of the low quality learning output. This is reflected in the low achievement scores of Filipino students. According to the surveys, many students who finish basic education do not possess sufficient mastery of basic competencies. One reason is that students do not get adequate instructional time or time on task. The National Achievement Test (NAT) for grade 6 in SY 2009-2010 passing rate is only 69.21%. Although this is already a 24% improvement over the SY 2005-2006 passing rate, further reforms are needed to achieve substantial improvement. The NAT for high school is 46.38% in SY 2009-2010, a slight decrease from 47.40% in SY 2008-2009. Three International tests results like 2003 TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) rank the Philippines 34th out of 38 countries in HS II Math and 43rd out of 46 countries in HS II Science; for grade 4, the Philippines ranked 23rd out of 25 participating countries in both Math and Science.  In 2008, even with only the science high schools participating in the Advanced Mathematics category, the Philippines was ranked lowest. The former basic education curriculum is a congested curriculum designed to teach a 12- year curriculum, yet it is delivered in just ten years. Furthermore, this quality of education reveals the status of the educational system in the inadequate preparation of high school graduates for the world of work or entrepreneurship or higher education. This is somehow a failure. High school graduates also do not possess the basic competencies or emotional maturity essential for the world of work. About 70.9% of the unemployed are at least high school graduates and 80% of the unemployed are 15-34 years old (World Bank Philippines Skills Report, 2009).  It shows that there a significant gaps in critical skills of graduates in context of work such as problem-solving, initiative and creativity, and, to a lesser extent, gaps in job- specific technical skills. Further, most graduates are too young to enter the labor force. This implies that those who do not pursue higher education would be unproductive or be vulnerable to exploitative labor practices (DepEd, 2010).

The short duration of the basic education program which refers to 10 year basic education curriculum also puts the millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) especially the professionals, and those who intend to study abroad at a disadvantage. Our graduates are not automatically recognized as professionals abroad. Filipinos face mutual recognition problem in other countries that view the 10-year education program as insufficient. The Philippines is the only country in Asia and among the three remaining countries in the world that has a 10-year basic education program. The Washington Accord prescribes 12- years basic education as an entry to recognition of engineering professionals. The Bologna Accord requires 12 years of education for university admission and practice of profession in European countries (DepEd, 2010).

            In line with this attentive response to the need of transformation of the educational system facing critical concerns, the Department of Education is acting its best efforts to enhance the basic education curriculum in taking bold steps in pursuing it. The agency intends to raise the quality education through the enhancement of the curriculum and expansion of the basic education cycle. Thus, the Enhanced K+12 Basic Education Program is presented and implemented to seek to provide for a quality 12- year basic education program that each Filipino is entitled to.