The system of education in the Philippines was patterned both from the educational systems of Spain and the United States. However, after the liberation of the Philippines in 1946, the system has changed radically. The Department of Education (or DepEd) administers the whole educational system, which also includes the allocation of funds utilized for school services and equipment (such as books, school chairs, etc. , recruitment of teachers for all public schools in the Philippines, and the supervision and organization of the school curricula. The former education system of the Philippines is composed of 6 years of elementary education starting at the age of 6 or 7, and 4 years of high school education starting at the age of 12 or 13. In this system, education is not compulsory. However, since June 4, 2012, DepEd started to implement the new K-12 educational system, which includes the new curricula for all schools. In this system, education is now compulsory.
All public and private schools in the Philippines must start classes from a date mandated by the Department of Education (usually every first Monday of June for public schools only), and must end after each school completes the mandated 200-day school calendar of DepEd (usually around the third week of March to the second week of April). Ancient times In pre-Spanish times, education was still decentralized. 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. When the Spanish arrived in Manila, they were surprised to find a population with a literacy rate higher than the literacy rate of Madrid. Spanish period During the early Spanish period most education was carried out by the religious orders. The friars, recognizing the value of a literate indigenous population, built printing presses to produce material in baybayin. The church and the school both worked together. The Spanish missionaries established schools immediately after reaching the islands.
The Augustinians opened a school in Cebu in 1565. The Franciscans, in 1577, immediately took to the task of teaching improving literacy, aside from the teaching of new industrial and agricultural techniques. The Jesuits followed in 1581, also by the Dominicans in 1587, which they started a school in their first mission at Bataan. In 1590, the Universidad de San Ignacio was founded in Manila by the Jesuits, and after the suppression of the Jesuits was incorporated into the University of Santo Tomas, College of Medicine and Pharmacy.
The first book printed in the Philippines dates back to 1590. In 1610, Tomas Pinpin, a Filipino printer, writer and publisher, who is sometimes referred as 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. In 1640, the Universidad de San Felipe de Austria was established in Manila. It was the first public university in the Philippines. On April 28, 1611, the University of Santo Tomas was founded in Manila as the Colegio de Nuestra Senora del Santisimo Rosario.
By the end of the 16th century, several religious orders had established charity hospitals all over the archipelago and provided the bulk of this public service. These hospitals also became the setting for rudimentary scientific research work on pharmacy and medicine. The Jesuits also founded the Colegio de San Jose in 1601 and took over the management in what became Escuela Municipal in 1859 (which was later renamed as Ateneo Municipal de Manila in 1865; today as Ateneo de Manila University).
The Dominicans on their part founded the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in 1620 in Manila. First Republic The defeat of Spain following the Spanish-American War let to the short-lived independence and establishment of the First Philippine 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. However, the Philippine–American War hindered to fulfill the mandate. 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. A highly centralized public school system was installed in 1901 by the Philippine Commission by virtue of Act No. 4. The implementation of this act created a heavy shortage of teachers. As a result, Philippine Commission authorized the Secretary of Public Instruction to bring to the Philippines more than 1,000 teachers from the United States called the Thomasites from 1901 to 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.
The high school system supported by provincial governments, special educational institutions, school of arts and trades, an agricultural school, and commerce and marine institutes were established in 1902 by the Philippine Commission. In 1908, the Philippine Legislature approved Act No. 1870, which created the University of the Philippines. The emergence of high school education in the Philippines islands, however, did not happen until 1910, caused by the rise in big businesses and technological advances in factories and the emergence of electrification that required skilled workers.
In order to meet this new job demand, high schools were created and the curriculum focused on practical job skills that would better prepare students for professional white-collar or skilled blue-collar work. This proved to be beneficial for both the employer and the employee, because this improvement in human capital caused employees to become more efficient, which lowered costs for the employer, and skilled employees received a higher wage than employees with just primary educational attainment. After World War II In 1947, by the virtue of Executive Order No. 4, 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. On September 24, 1972, by Presidential Decree No. 1, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports was decentralized with decision-making shared among thirteen regional offices.
In 1978, by the Presidential Decree No. 1397, the Department of Education and Culture became the Ministry of Education and Culture. The Education Act of 1982 provided for an integrated system of education covering both formal and nonformal education at all levels. Section 29 of the act sought to upgrade education institutions’ standards to achieve “quality education”, through voluntary accreditation for schools, colleges, and universities; Fifth Republic On February 2, 1987, a new Constitution for the Philippines was ratified.
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. On May 26, 1988, the Congress of the Philippines enacted the Republic Act 6655, the Free Public Secondary Education Act of 1988, which mandated free public secondary education commencing in the school year 1988–1989. On May 26, 1988, the Congress enacted the act which made free public secondary education to become a reality.
On February 3, 1992, the Congress enacted Republic Act 7323, which provided that students aged 15 to 25 may be employed during Christmas and summer vacation with a salary not lower than the minimum wage. During the 21st century In August 2001, Republic Act 9155, otherwise called the Governance of Basic Education Act, was passed transforming the name of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) to the Department of Education (DepEd) and redefining the role of field offices (regional offices, division offices, district offices and schools).
The act provides the overall framework for (i) school head empowerment by strengthening their leadership roles and (ii) school-based management within the context of transparency and local accountability. The goal of basic education is to provide the school age population and young adults with skills, knowledge and values to become caring, self-reliant, productive and patriotic citizens.
In January 2009, DepEd signed a memorandum of agreement with the United States Agency for International Development to seal $86 million assistance to Philippine education, particularly the access to quality education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and the Western and Central Mindanao regions. 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 2017-2018; 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.
REFERENCES:
http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Education_in_the_philippines
