THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

HISTORY
Education From Ancient Early Filipinos

- Children were provided more vocational training but less academics in their houses by their parents and in the houses of their tribal tutors. They were using a unique system of writing known as the baybayin.
Spanish Period

- During the early Spanish period most education was carried out by the religious orders. The schools focused on the Christian Doctrines.

 First Republic

-The schools maintained by Spain for more than three centuries were closed for a short period but were reopened on August 29, 1898 by the Secretary of Interior. The Burgos Institute in Malolos, the Military Academy of Malolos, and the 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 Philippine Republic.

 American Period

-Building on the education system created in 1863, an improved public school system was established during the first decade of American rule upon the recommendation of the Schurman Commission. Free primary instruction that trained the people for the duties of citizenship and avocation was enforced by the Taft Commission per instructions of President William McKinley. -Education during this time also emphasized nationalism, vocational education and good manners and discipline.

 After World War II

-In 1947, by the virtue of Executive Order No. 94, the Department of Instruction was changed to the Department of Education. During this period, the regulation and supervision of public and private schools belonged to the Bureau of Public and Private Schools.
Marcos Era

-In 1972, the Department of Education became the Department of Education and Culture by the virtue of Proclamation 1081 which was signed by President Ferdinand Marcos.

 Fifth Republic

-On February 2, 1987, a new Constitution for the Philippines was ratified. Section 3, Article XIV of the 1987 Constitution contains the ten fundamental aims of education in the Philippines. -In 1987 by virtue of Executive Order No. 117, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, became the Department of Education, Culture and Sports. The structure of DECS as embodied in the order remained practically unchanged until 1994.

 Implementation Of The K-12 Program

- The implementation of the K-12 program is "phased". The first phase of the implementation will start on SY 2012-2013. During this school year, universal kindergarten will be finally offered, and will now be a part of the compulsory education system; and a new curriculum for Grade 1 and Grade 7 students would be introduced. By SY 2016-2017, Grade 11/Year 5 will be introduced, and Grade 12/Year 6 by SY 20172018; with the phased implementation of the new curriculum finished by the SY 2017-2018. Students in 2nd year to 4th year high school this SY 2012-2013 are not included in the program. It is only applicable to students from Kinder to 1st year high school which is now called Grade 7.

EDUCATION SYSTEM
Three Modes On Delivery Of Instructions: 1. Normal Education 2. Alternative Learning System 3. Alternative Delivery Mode

COMPULSORY EDUCATION

(Pattern of Education) Elementary School - Elementary school, sometimes called primary school or grade school (Filipino: paaralang elementarya;mababang paaralan), is the first part of the educational system, and it includes the first six years of compulsory education (grades 1-6). These grades are further grouped (informally) accordingly into: primary level, which includes the first three grades (grades 1-3), and intermediate level, which includes the last three grades (grades 4-6). The elementary school education covers a smaller but wider than the junior and senior high school because of the spiral approach educational technique.

 Secondary School

- Secondary school in the Philippines, more commonly known as "high school" (Filipino: paaralang sekundarya, sometimes mataas na paaralan), consists of four levels largely based on the American schooling system as it was until the advent of the comprehensive high schools in the US in the middle of last century. The Philippine high school system has not moved much from where it was when the Philippines achieved independence from the US in 1946. It still consists of only four levels with each level partially compartmentalized, focusing on a particular theme or content.

 Tertiary Education

-Tertiary education in the Philippines is increasingly less cosmopolitan. From a height of 5,284 foreign of students in 19951996 the number steadily declined to 2,323 in 20002001, the last year CHED published numbers on its website. Technical and Vocational Education -Technical and vocational education is offered to enhance students' practical skills at institutions usually accredited and approved by TESDA.

Government Sector
The government has 3 main branches that manage education system in the Philippines; these are the: Department of Education (DepEd) Commission on higher Education (CHED) Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

The K to 12 Program
The K to 12 Program covers kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (six years of primary education, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school [SHS]) to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.

A. Salient Features 1. Universal Kindergarten Education Kindergarten has now been integrated into the basic education system to ensure that all grade 1 students are ready for academic learning. Universal kindergarten started in SY 20112012 with a budget of P2.3 billion and was made mandatory starting SY 20122013 through the signing of Republic Act No. 10157 entitled An Act Institutionalizing the Kindergarten Education into the Basic Education System and Appropriating Funds Therefor on January 20, 2012.

2. Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education. The mother tongue will be the medium of instruction from kindergarten to grade 3. This includes the following: Tagalog, Kapampangan, Pangasinense, Iloko, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Tausug, Maguindanaoan, Maranao, and Chabacano. Medium of instruction will be English and Filipino starting grade 4.

3. Core Academic Areas. The core academic areas include Math; Filipino; English; Araling Panlipunan; Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao; and Music, Arts, Physical Education, and Health (MAPEH). These are based on the College Readiness Standards of the Commission on Higher Education and are equivalent to the courses offered under the General Education Curriculum of Higher Education Institutions.

Science will be taught in grade 3, but its concepts will be integrated in other subjects like Health (under MAPEH), Math, and Languages in grades 1 and 2. Edukasyong Pangtahanan at Pangkabuhayan will be taught starting in grade 4. Technology and Livelihood Education and technicalvocational specializations, consistent with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority training regulations, will start in grade 7.

4. Specializations. The additional two years (grades 11 and 12) or SHS will allow students to choose among academic, technicalvocational, or sports and arts tracks depending on their interest, the community needs, and the results of their skills assessment. The SHS will allow mastery of core competencies for lifelong learning and preparedness for work, higher education, middle-level skills development, or entrepreneurship.

B. Implementation and Transition Management Program implementation will be in phases starting this June for SY 20122013. Grade 1 entrants in SY 2012 2013 will be the first batch to fully undergo the program, and incoming first-year high school students (or grade 7) in SY 20122013 will be the first to undergo the junior high school curriculum. To prepare teachers for the new curriculum, a nationwide summer training program for about 140,000 grades 1 and 7 public school teachers will be held in May. The Department of Education (DepEd) is also working with various private school associations to cover teachers in private schools. To facilitate the transition from the existing ten-year basic education to 12 years, the DepEd will also implement the SHS Readiness Assessment and K to 12 Modeling.

C. Social Benefits of the Program The perceived benefits of the program include: i) placing the Philippine education system at par with international standards, following the Washington Accord and the Bologna Accord; and ii) contributing to the development of a better educated society capable of pursuing productive employment, entrepreneurship, or higher education disciplines.

D. Ensuring Sustainability of the Program Enhancing the basic education curriculum and increasing the number of years for basic education was adopted as a Common Legislative Agenda during the February 28, 2011 Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting. The administration-supported bills that aim to increase the number of years for basic education are Senate Bill 2713 (Recto), House Bill (HB) 4219 (Belmonte), and HB 4199 (Escudero). These bills are pending at the Committee Level.

ISSUES
Budget
* kuwang ang budget nga gihatag sa government

then probably korakoton pa jd so mao nang na.ay mga issues.

E.g:
Sub-standard textbooks, overworked and under paid teachers, contractualization of teachers and mediocer classrooms.

Eurocentric *sunod-sunod rata sa mga taga gawas.. Wla jud ka.ayo mga laking pinoy. Mas importante and IMPORTED kay sa LOCAL E.g: colonial histography

Fly-by-night educational institutions. By any measure, the proliferation of fly-by-night educational institutions is counter-productive. In the long run, it produces a pool of half-baked, unprepared, and incompetent graduates. Alarmingly, the country is having an over-supply already. Some would even consider them as liabilities than assets. This case is true for both undergraduate and graduate studies.

Culturally and gender insensitive educational system. Women, the common tao and the indigenous people are almost historically excluded from the Philippine historiography in favor of the men, heroes from Luzon and the power elite. Women are marginalized and trivialized even in language of education. Take the case of the terms female lawyer (as if lawyer as a profession is exclusive only to men) and manpower (which should have been human resources or human capital to be more politically correct).

State abandonment of education. In the name of imperialist globalization, the state in an incremental fashionis abandoning its role to subsidize public education particularly in the tertiary level. This comes in the form of matriculation, laboratory and miscellaneous fee increases in order to force state colleges and universities (SCUs) to generate their own sources of fund. Ironically, the bulk of the budget (in fact, more than one-third in the case of 2005 National Budget) goes to debt servicing.

Sub-standard textbooks. Some textbooks which are already circulation are both poorly written and haphazardly edited. Take the case of the Asya: Noon at Ngayon with an identified total number of more than 400 historical errors. Unfortunately, it is just one of the many other similar atrociously written textbooks which are yet to be identified and exposed. This is a classic case of profit-centeredness without regard to social accountability.

Widespread contractualization. In the name of profit, owners and administrators of several private schools commonly practice contractualization among their faculty members. Contractual employees unlike their regular/tenured counterparts are not entitled to fringe benefits which consequently reduces the over-all cost of their business operation. Job insecurity demeans the ranks of the faculty members.

Undue disregard for specialization. Some colleges and universities encourage their faculty pool to be generalists (under the guise of multidisciplinary approach to learning) in order to be able to handle various subjects all at once. But some faculty members have turned out to be objects of mockery and have lost their self-esteem since some of them were pushed to handle Technical Writing, General Psychology, Filipino, and Algebra at the same time. This is prevalent among some franchised academic institutions even if the subjects are already off-tangent their area of interest and specialization.

Copy-pasting culture. Over-dependence to the cyberspace has dramatically reduced the capability of students (even teachers) to undertake research. Copypasting has even turned into a norm among some students whenever they are tasked to submit a research paper or even a film review. Needless to say, plagiarism has already transformed into a more sophisticated form in the context of todays electronic age.

Mcdonaldized education. The system, methodology, and even content of education in the Philippines are mere haphazard transplantation from the West. It is therefore Eurocentric, culturally insensitive, and nonreflective of the local milieu. This is based on the xenocentric (foreign-centered) premise that other culture or system is far more superior than ones own.

The problem of non-sustainability and noncontinuity. Teachers, administrators and publishers are all left in limbo whenever the DepEd would come up with another totally different directive from what it used to have in a rather very sudden interval. Take the case of the grading system, timeframe allotted to various subjects, MAKABAYAN program, readiness test, and learning competencies (LC).

Poor regard for liberal art/education. Liberal education is intended to form a holistic individual equipped with communication, critical thinking, mathematical, creative, inter-personal and intra-personal skills. This explains why we also have Philosophy, Languages, Humanities, Natural Science, Social Science, Physical Education and even Theology in our college curriculum, and not only our major subjects. The curriculum is specifically designed to produce a total person, and not only a technical specialist. Unfortunately, the desired objective is not being met at all since liberal education is regarded only as a set of minor subjects.

* Continuation of Poor Regard For Liberal Art/Education With the way these subjects are being handled (taking into account both content and methodology), students view the entire exercise as an unnecessary duplication of what they have already covered in high school. Equally alarming is the lack of enthusiasm and motivation exhibited by some professors to handle the subject especially if they believe that it has nothing to do with the course or area of specialization of their students (say, Art Appreciation for Accounting majors or Algebra for Creative Writing majors).

Education a purveyor of myth. Education has been very effective in mainstreaming and perpetuating the social myths in a subtle and indirect manner. Some of these myths are the perceived superiority of white, educated men, official history as advanced by the western point of view, globalization as the only way to achieve economic development, and stereotypes against the minoritized and the disenfranchised.

Further marginalization of the undersubscribed courses. In the name of profit and as a response to the dictates of the market forces, colleges and universities prefer to offer more courses in line with the health sciences like nursing, medical transcription, and care-giving. This is done at the expense of the already undersubscribed yet relevant courses like Area Studies, Pilipinolohiya (Philippine Studies), Development Studies, Philippine Arts, Art Studies, Community Development, Social Work, Islamic Studies, Clothing Technology, and Ceramics Engineering.

Monolithic education. Some educators in the name of conservatism and for the sake of convenience, prefer the old-style teaching paradigm where they view themselves as the fountain of knowledge and their students as nothing but empty vessels to be filled up (banking method of education). Modern education has ushered in learner-centered approach to education (from being the sage in the stage to just a guide on the side).

Atrociously boring teachers. As I always underscore, there are no boring subjects, only boring teachers. But at least we should recognize them because they still serve a purpose. They serve as bad examples.