History of Philippine Educational System
Diffusion of the Japanese language in
during Japanese era
Educational System
 Japanese Devised Curriculum caused
a blackout in the Philippine education
and impeded the educational progress
 They introduced many changes in the
curriculum by including Nihongo and
abolishing English as a medium of
instruction and as a subject
 All textbooks were censored and revised
 Curriculum
 School Calendar became longer
 No summer vacation for students
 Class size increased to 60
 Deleted anti-Asian opinions, banned the
singing of American songs, deleted
American symbols, poems and pictures
 Nihongo as a means of introducing and
cultivation love for Japanese culture
 Under the Japanese regime, the
teaching of Tagalog, Philippine History,
and Character Education was reserved
for Filipinos
 Educational Program
 June 1942, Military Order No. 2-
mandated the teaching of Tagalog,
Philippine History and Character
education to Filipino students, with
emphasis on love for work and dignity of
labor
 Re- opening of elementary schools
 Re- opening of vocational and normal
schools
 Institutions of higher learning giving
courses in agriculture, medicine,
fisheries and engineering
 Japanese language is popularized to
terminate the use of English
 Filipino children went to school to learn
Japanese songs and games
 There was a strict censorship of
textbooks and other learning materials
 The teachers were to become
condescending mouthpieces of
Japanese propaganda
 Six Basic principles of Japanese
Education
1. Realization of new order and promote
friendly relations between Japan and the
Philippines to the farthest extent
2. Foster a new Filipino culture based
3. Endeavor to elevate the morals of
people, giving up over emphasis of
materialism
4.
the Philippines
5. Promotion of vocational course
6. To inspire people with the spirit to love
neighbor
 Educational aims
 Eradicate old idea of reliance on western
nations
 Love of labor
 Military Training
 Education Types
 Nihongo language
 Vocational training
 Health education agriculture
 Methods of Education
 Stressed dignity of manual labor
 Emphasis vocational education
 Medium of instruction
 Nihongo language
 Promoting Education
 Military Order No. 2
The Philippine Executive
Commission established the Commission of
Education, Health and Public Welfare and
schools were reopened in June 1942
 On October 14, 1943, the Japanese –
sponsored Republic created the Ministry
of Education.
 Department of instruction became part
of the Department of Public Instruction
on February 27, 1945
 On February 27, 1945, the Department
of Instruction was made part of the
Department of Public Instruction.
 In 1947, by virtue of Executive Order No.
94, the Department of Instruction was
changed to Department of Education.
During this period, the regulation and
supervision of public and private schools
belonged to the Bureau of Public and
Private Schools.
 In 1972, it became the Department of
Education and Culture by virtue of
Proclamation 1081 and the Ministry of
Education and Culture in 1978 y virtue of
P.D. No. 1397.
 This excerpt is from Kuwentong Bayan: Noong Panahon Ng Hapon: Everyday Life
in a Time of War which is a compilation of Filipino personal narratives of World
War II in the Philippines. It discusses how the Japanese occupation forces changed
the education system in the Philippines.

The Japanese Education [click the image to enlarge; click the image again to browse all pages]

Program in the (Courtesy of the University of the Philippines Press)

Philippines Unlike Japanese youth, most Filipino youth

did not embrace the ideas that the Japanese
occupation taught them. Instead, most
Filipinos maintained American ideas. Before
the war, much of the Filipino public-school
curricula emphasized American history,
culture, and literature. Filipino public schools
used many American-created textbooks.
These textbooks were written in English and
contained many American historical figures,
such as Abraham Lincoln and George
Washington.[1] The United States had
developed and implemented Filipino
education curricula for over 35 years, while
Japan only had three years to create and
implement their own. As a
result, neither Filipino youth or their parents
responded positively to the new Japanese
curriculum, but most who attended school
were outwardly compliant. 

The Japanese focused on creating a Co

Prosperity [sic] sphere in Asia, which entailed
removing Western influence and replacing it
with Japanese influence. In the Philippines,
Japanese occupiers were trying to make
Filipinos more Asian and less American. The
new official languages became Tagalog and remarks openly to the dismay of his Filipino
Japanese, and schools focused on the teacher.[6]
development of Filipino and Japanese culture
rather than the American democratic ideals. Seinendan: Young Person’s
[2] In essence, Japan simply replaced the
United States as colonizer and began to
Associations
impose its own values and ideas of success on
the Philippines.  

“As Normal as Education Could

Be Under a Gun”

This is a photograph included in the book The Japanese Occupation of the

Philippines: A Pictorial History edited by Ricardo T. Jose and Lydia Yu-Jose. This
photograph displays a crowd of Filipino children preforming radio taiso exercises,
which the Japanese occupiers mandated to develop the physical fitness and
discipline among Filipino children.

(Courtesy of the Ayala Foundation)

Public education was not the only way the

Japanese attempted to indoctrinate
This is a photograph included in the book The Japanese Occupation of the
Philippines: A Pictorial History edited by Ricardo T. Jose and Lydia Yu-Jose. This Filipino Youth. One Filipino remembers the
photograph shows a Japanese soldier teaching Japanese to a class of Filipino
children during the occupation in World War II. Photographer is unknown. Japanese enlisting all of the youth in the town
of Bigaa in a youth group called “Seinendan”
(Courtesy of the Ayala Foundation)
(Young Person’s Association). The youth
Most Filipino youth were not receptive to the group would practice daily a form
Japanese-created education program. Leonor of calisthenics called “Radio Taisyo” in which
Gavino who was a child during the they would listen to a radio playing “Japanese
occupation explained in a personal account: martial music” while preforming the
“Filipinos were too pro-American and instructed movements broadcast over the
their [the Japanese] efforts to ‘filipinize’ us radio.[7] Filipino youth and adults commonly
more did not go very well.”[3] At the practiced Radio Taisyo throughout the
beginning of the occupation, some parents occupation. Youth in Seinendan also
banned their children from attending the learned national Japanese songs such as the
Japanese-controlled schools while other youth national anthem “Kimigayo” and planted
did not even have the option to even go to vegetables in food plots.[8] The author of this
school as most rural schools remained closed. personal account indicates that the
[4] Because of this, the Japanese efforts to youth reacted positively to this youth group as
indoctrinate Filipino youth were not wide- they “responded [to the Japanese instructor]
reaching. Most youth who did attend schools by making it easier for him to contain our
did not easily sway under the Japanese boundless energy and exuberance” because
teachings because they heard rumors of and the Japanese instructor was decent and kind.
witnessed the violence of Japanese [9]  
soldiers. One Filipino remembers that “school
activities were as normal as they could be
under the gun” and he and his friend would
express anti-Japanese sentiments to
themselves in private.[5] Similarly, another
Filipino recalled making anti-Japanese
comments in class. He did not understand the
degree of control the Japanese had over the
education system, so he made his disparaging