EDUCATION REFORM IN THE PHILIPPINES AIMS FOR BETTER QUALITY AND MORE ACCESS

ABSTRACT
The Philippine education system has evolved over hundreds of years of colonial occupation, first by Spain and then by the US, through martial law and the

people’s power revolution that brought democracy to the sprawling archipelago. The education sector’s development has mirrored the changes in the country’s

administration. Today the focus is on expanding access and ensuring more Filipinos receive a decent basic education, as a means of reducing poverty and improving

national competitiveness. The World Bank notes that in other countries such initiatives have brought “large economic benefits”. The K-12 reform was introduced in

2016 and funding was increased, easing concerns that its implementation would be hindered by limited resources and winning over new President Rodrigo Duterte,

who was initially sceptical about the plan.

1. K-12 Implementation. Three years since the Enhanced Basic Education Act (EBEA, known as the K-12 law) was signed, the Philippines has finally embarked on its

most ground-breaking change to the schooling system in decades, the K-12 reform. K-12 extends compulsory schooling to grades 11 and 12, adding two years to

secondary school, and makes secondary education compulsory.

2. 10-Point Plan. The shift to K-12 began under President Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, who approached education as an investment in Filipinos, and

offered a 10-point plan for improving education as part of his election campaign. As well as K-12, the 10 fixes included pre-schooling for all, technical-vocational

training as an alternative in senior high school, working with local governments to build new schools, proficiency in science and maths, and working with private

schools as “essential partners” in basic education. The plan is to expand the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education, supporting as

many as 1m students at private high schools through the Education Service Contracting Scheme.

3. Education For All. The Education for All (EFA) initiative included provisions to ensure all Filipinos were able to achieve what UNESCO calls “functional literacy”, the

ability to read, write and do calculations at a level that is sufficient for the country in which a particular person lives. Further supporting the K-12 reform, the

government set four key objectives for the EFA initiative: providing education options for all out-of-school adults and young people; eliminating drop-outs and

repetition during the first three years of school; encouraging the completion of a full cycle of basic schooling to a satisfactory level at every grade by all Filipino

children; and committing to the attainment of basic education competencies for everyone.

4. Raising Standards. Much of the official discussion on K-12 centres on the need to raise standards, improve teacher quality and encourage completion of basic

schooling. The drop-out rate has remained high, and data from the “Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey” produced by the Philippine Statistics

Authority, shows that around 4m children and young people were out of school in 2013, while as of April 2016, 16.6m Filipinos – or 39% of the workforce – had not

completed basic education. The World Bank noted continuing problems with access and inequality. The report found that only 53% of the poorest 20% of households

sent their children to high school, while 81% of the wealthiest families did so. To address the problem, the government aims to incentivise attendance, extend school

feeding programmes and expand programmes under the ALS, a “second chance” designed to ensure more Filipinos complete their basic education.

5. Allocation Of Funds. More effective targeting of funds to the areas of greatest need is therefore a priority alongside an overall increase in budget allocations.

Briones told the Education Summit in November 2016 there is “a need for a drastic improvement in absorptive capacity”. The Duterte administration is planning to

introduce a series of financial management reforms to improve education outcomes, including: enhanced leadership supervision and oversight over finance,

administration and procurement; the creation of an education programme delivery unit to monitor budget execution and intervene to ensure funds move smoothly

to where they are needed; a financial management information system to track budget spending in real time; and a more proactive approach to spending.
6. Teaching Standards. In recent years DepEd has introduced a number of measures to improve the standard of teaching, revising professional benchmarks and

providing more on-the-job training. It has also made a concerted effort to attract the brightest and the best by raising compensation and making the selection

process more competitive. In the past, teaching was poorly paid and often seen as the fall-back course for university applicants who did not get onto their preferred

course. Studies found teacher knowledge in both elementary and high school was low, and that the professional development programmes were insufficient.

7. Meeting National Needs. The government insists that the education system must be more appropriate to the needs of the country, including its economy. The aim

is to improve students’ abilities in science and technology, and nurture critical thinking, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, as well as to encourage them to support

the wider community, especially those on the margins. Sex education, along with awareness of the issues surrounding teenage pregnancy and the dangers of drugs

(from grade four), will be strengthened, and there will be a special emphasis on the environment, climate change and disaster preparedness in a country that has

frequently endured earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and severe weather. To achieve these goals, the government is overhauling the curriculum to establish a “spiral”

approach, which is designed to challenge and stimulate pupils so that they develop critical thinking skills.

8. Higher Education. The Philippines is one of the few countries where the number of private higher education institutions and students enrolled there is greater

than in the state sector. Leading private universities, such as the University of Santo Tomas, were established hundreds of years before their public sector

counterparts – although Filipinos were not allowed to attend until the 19th century – while the University of the Philippines, the archipelago’s leading state

university, was set up in 1908, when the country was under US control.

9. Quality Of Instruction. Despite the size of the higher education sector, the quality of instruction remains low, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In

professional board examinations, for instance, median pass rates between 2005 and 2015 ranged from 34% to 43%. The ADB also noted a “worrisome

preponderance” within both the state and private sector of institutions with a pass rate of zero, “indicative of a large number of low-quality higher education

institutions.”

10. Research Partnerships. Research and development (R&D) has also been a focus in areas such as food security, the environment and natural disasters, biodiversity

and health systems in order to support the Duterte administration’s socio-economic objectives. As part of the push for reform, the government is keen to encourage

increased private investment and internationalisation in higher education.