Topic: DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES FROM THE PRE-

SPANISH PERIOD TO THE PRESENT

Subject: Educ 200 (Philosophy in Education)
Student: NAAG, RAYMART N.
Professor: LLENARESAS, ALLAN O, MAEd

DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES FROM THE PRE-SPANISH

PERIOD TO THE PRESENT

Public Education in the Philippines: Social Inclusion and Education Access Item Type
text; Electronic Thesis Authors Benson, Emeeh Ofelia J. Publisher The University of
Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made
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is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 16/12/2020 03:16:43
Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/612544 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 1 Public Education in the Philippines: Social Inclusion and Education
Access Emeeh Ofelia J. Benson University of Arizona PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 2 Acknowledgement I, thank most sincerely my thesis Supervisor at the
College of Education, Dr. Mary Carol Combs who advised and inspired me throughout
my work on the Honors Thesis. She taught me how to focus and work hard towards
excellence. I thank her for helping me accomplish something great and invaluable
especially her patience and concern. You set for me an example of excellence as a
Professor, Instructor, Mentor and a role model. I thank my fellow Honors students,
research technicians, collaborators, and the multitude of undergraduates who
contributed to this research. I am very grateful to all of you. This includes the Honors
Thesis committee members, our librarian and her assistant for the guidance through this
process. I appreciate so much the encouragement of my advisors, Dr. Rebecca Mitchell
and Miss Sara Knepper for their constant enthusiasm and encouragement. I also thank
my wonderful parents, teachers themselves who passed to me a love of teaching and
who were such great role models and believed so much in teaching and adult
education. Thanks also to my brothers and sisters for their support. To my best friend
Sara Jackson; your love, laughter and support kept me smiling even through difficult
times. You are my family. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Keith. I dedicate
this Honors Thesis to you. I am so grateful for the love and constant patience in editing
for me and helping me with my English. You helped me to be strong and encouraged
me to laugh at my mistakes and embrace imperfections. You set an example of
brilliance as a friend and a partner through this process. Your honest criticism and your
ideas have been vital for my professional growth. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate
all the work you’ve done to make the editing painless and fun. You are PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 3 coffee of the earth and I undoubtedly could not
have done this without you. I truly appreciate your faith in me and for believing that I can
succeed. I love you very much. Above all, I thank God for your grace and the wisdom to
excel. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 4
Table of Contents
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………6
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..8

CHAPTER 1: SPANISH EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

Historical Background:
Addressing the Social Context 1863 Spain’s Educational Decree………………………..9
Distribution of Schools in1887…………………………………………………………..……12
Chapter Summary …………………………………………………………………………….15
CHAPTER 2: AMERICAN STUDIES IN THE PHILIPPINES
American Era and the Community Schools………….……………………………………..16
Organization and Administration of Education in the Philippines….….….………………18
Philippines 2000 ……………………………………………………………………….……...21
The Role of Public School Teachers………………………………………………………..23
Chapter Summary …………………………………………………………………………….27

CHAPTER 3: EDUCATION ACCESS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Philippine Education towards Decentralization…………………………………………….27
Multigrade Schools …………………………………..……………………………………….28
Multigrade System In Macro And Micro Level Features…………………………………..29
K to 12 Basic Education: The Right Choice ……………………………………………….32
Chapter Summary..…………………………………………………………………………34
CHAPTER 4: I AM A TEACHER, NOT A SAINT Teacher Education in the Philippines
…………………………………………………………..36
Teacher Effectiveness: Focus and Design of Quality Education
……………………………….38
Teacher Morale: A Variable for Positive Climate
………………………………………………40
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 5
Teacher Leadership
……………………………………………………………………………..40
Teacher Accreditation in the Philippines
……………………………………………………….41 Chapter Summary
………………………………………………………………………………42 CHAPTER 5:
THE STORY BEHIND NUMBERS Alternative Learning System: Inclusion
Education……………………………………………..43 Current Trends in
Literacy……………………………………………………………………….44 Determining
Functional Literacy………………………………………………………………...49 The
Measurement of Literacy …………………………………………………………………..53
Chapter
Summary………………………………………………………………………………..56
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………
58 Related Notes
……………………………………………………………………………………58
References………………………………………………………………………………………..
60 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 6 Abstract I have had many ask me
questions about education in the Philippines so I decided to write this paper on
education in my country beginning with the history. I am an advocate of multilingual
education and initially wanted to concentrate on that approach. Schools were taught
bilingually with English being the main second language. I actually learned English
before Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines; my first language being Ilocano,
the language of the Cagayan Valley. This paper will also touch upon the case of
Multigrade schools in implementing educational innovation. I will be concentrating on
the public education system of the Philippines and the organization of public schools as
well as highlighting the effective means of macro level and micro level Multigrade
programs. Studies suggest that Multigrade schools, i.e. those with classes that are
mixed in age and ability, can be a cost effective means of raising students over all
achievement in school. This study examines the association between teacher
education, teacher effectiveness, and teacher morale. It will also show that teacher
leadership is directly linked to student success. In particular, the time spent on direct
instruction and other kinds of activities predicts positive achievement gains. In the
process of learning in schools; teacher education, teacher effectiveness, teacher morale
and teacher leadership are important standard measures for professional autonomy.
The purpose of this study is to determine factors contributing to all these types of quality
measures in both schools, public or private. The significance of Kindergarten to 12
grade in Philippine public schools as an approach to equity and opportunity for all
Filipino children and changing the traditional nature of education in the Philippines
indicates that they are ready to compete with other countries. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN
THE PHILIPPINES 7 I will discuss the evolution of literacy, describe adult literacy
background and the influence of the development of literacy in both rural and urban
areas of Philippine’s three largest Islands: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. It concludes
that to overcome the stigma of literacy failure due to lack of informal knowledge or the
effective formal schooling, youth and adults have tried to improve access to literacy
education by providing more public spaces. Policies in literacy for adults can vary in the
characteristics of teaching and teaching requirements. Adult literacy program expansion
may attract more students who want to better educate themselves. This would alleviate
the stigma of not knowing how to read. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 8
Philippine Public Schools: Social Inclusion and Education Access in the Philippines
Introduction Go to the people. Learn from them. Love them, Help them in their work.
And when their work is done The best that they will say about it is: “We did it all by
ourselves” (Chinese Proverb) This paper will discuss Public Education in the
Philippines. It seeks to assess the importance of public schools, school quality and
children’s achievement through the medium of education. Using data from the
Philippines, I will be presenting facts, data, and tables to describe specific research
studies in our system of public schools in the Philippines. Systems of education around
the world, particularly those of developing countries and underdeveloped countries,
were beset upon by the wrath of the Spaniards and the blistering words of Bishop
Leaders within the Catholic Church with the trend of low performing students and
outrageous shortages of school supplies and materials. De Guzman (2006) of
University of Santo Tomas, in his article, Reform in Philippine Basic Education Viewed
from Key Elements of Successful School – Based Management of Public Schools
described and exposed the ugly truth inside the Department of Education in the
Philippines. He emphasized that the Philippine public schools are characterized by poor
monitoring, low accountability levels and a mediocre evaluation system. Teachers and
principals are unmotivated as well as the spirit of graft and corruption leading to
unimaginative approaches to teaching and learning. The education institution is
challenged to identify how power and authority can be a root of all evil acts, now known
as the megatrends in Philippine public schools. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 9 CHAPTER 1 SPANISH EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES Historical
Background: Addressing the social context 1863 Spain’s Educational Decree. The year
is 1983. I have graduated from a Barrio elementary school and find myself in the city of
Manila a year after. A third class jeepney (a small, crowded bus) marked the new
beginning for me of high school education in one of the densest public schools in the
city. On school days I walked for around half an hour from my home to my school. This
is very common for community children. My school is located in a remote area, as other
schools were too remote and transportation access was impossible. The Philippines,
with a population of 104,280,890, are scattered over 7,100 islands. In The Community
Education in the Philippines, an article by Anderson (1958), the goal of bringing
education programs to the Philippines is described as distinct, ambitious and promising.
Researchers and policy makers have been aware that this project is designed to
promote the fullest growth and development of Filipino children and to bring about
improvement in a wide ranges of community activities. Based on the report, no other
single movement is credited with doing as much to improve social and economic
conditions in the Philippines. The year 1803 is a significant year for education in the
Philippines. An educational decree was established, the last in a long time of royal
decrees issued by Spain. This pertained to the education of Filipinos and it reflected the
guidelines for a liberal, secular state. In The Impact of Spain’s 1863 Educational Decree
on the Spread of Philippine’s Literacy and Language Acquisition Hardacker (2012),
describes the role of the Spanish missionaries as the “ilustrados” who taught adults in
Castilian – Spanish language. Local individuals couldn’t understand Castilian so the
Spanish missionaries switched to vernacular teaching later. It was PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 10 the Spanish who created literacy community
schools throughout the island. Filipinos learned the basics that gave way to a feeling of
independence by being able to read and write. That is, literacy becomes the center
around which all other problems in society revolve. Although it took a decree full of
conflict and arguments, the great Council of the Indies in Madrid imposed what were the
laws of the colony, which lasted until 1863. Under this decree the catholic leaders
returned to teaching in Spanish. There were separate schools for boys called the
“Augustinians” and for girls “Escuela Pia” during this era. The wealthy Filipinos, also
referred to as “ilustrados” the same title as the missionaries, were provided
accompaniment to schools and were given good accommodations. In this view, I can
only think that colonial education brought little benefit to the Filipinos. Normal schools,
religious missionary schools actually, employed inexperienced teachers. This is where
they got their training and were established with Spanish friars having full control of the
education system and over the missionaries in the schools. In the article Aspects of
Literacy and Educational Attainment in the Philippines, Bennett (2012), discusses that
there was resistance during this period. There were cries of defiance and there were
deaths. The families’ animal property and lands for field work were taken away from
them. Filipino families were being silenced, helpless and their voices were just a blur.
Sadly, they were the victims of three centuries of exploitation. The history of abuse
during their occupation was ugly. The exploitation was the same whether they refused
to attend school or not. This continued throughout the 300 years of Spanish rule.
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 11 Spain’s decree made an impact.
Spanish missionaries continued to educate Filipinos and as an incentive, the
requirement for Spanish fluency was a confinement. The authoritarian rule of Spanish
colonization lasted for 350 years. I did not believe it then, I do not believe it now that the
obligation of Spanish missionaries was to speak to one another and to produce literate
Filipinos. Educating Filipinos was an object of curiosity and in barrios Filipinos learned
the basics which allowed them a certain amount of personal independence. The
educational decree of 1863 was marked to be the last in a long line of royal decrees
issued by Spain pertaining to the education of Filipinos and it greatly affected the
guidelines for a liberal and secular state. During this time, education was a very
essential component of the colonial state’s primary aim in the Philippine islands; known
as the spread of Catholicism. Hardacker (2012) posits that the Catholic education was
included in a provision for Spanish language instruction, which later was viewed as
disseminating the “one true religion” in this country. Spanish became the medium of
instruction in elementary, secondary and in higher education. Colleges and Universities
were controlled by Bishops and nuns. At the time, wearing uniforms was strictly
imposed in all schools, as it is even to this day. Figure 1: Group of Spanish Cardinals
with Filipinos elite children. Credit: Paul Jeffrey, Social Documentary Photographer in
the Philippines Source: Https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=History of Education in the
Philippines Still Images PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 12 Distribution of
Schools in 1887 According to Hardacker (2012), a number of public schools were
outlined and there were about 3,000 parochial schools in the entire archipelago. In
Manila, the colonial center for administration had only one public primary school
attended by 80 students. By the end of Spanish colonization, the self-reported result
revealed that there were about 2,153 public schools with enrollment relatively close to
200,000. Throughout the Spanish regime, the government rarely had sufficient funds to
keep the school functional and there was a dearth of financial and other resources to
support public education. One of the problems they were facing at that time was the
shortage of books, writing materials and an inadequate supply of qualified teachers in
public schools. These Spanish-language schools were unfortunately under the control
of the local governors who also appointed teachers. During this era the Church was
mightier than the state; you could say the church was the state. Nevertheless, the
materials and financial resources were imported from Spain and Mexico. Filipino
Nationalist Propaganda provided a new hope with the arrival of the Americans in the
country following the Treaty of Paris in 1898. According to the record, Philippine Library
of Congress (2011), this treaty marked the end of the Spanish-American war and the
major conflict concerned the Philippines and marked the entrance of the United States
into the Philippines. The American Government paid twenty million dollars to Spain for
possession of the Philippines. Spanish rule was soon forgotten and replaced by
Western ideals. This year was very significant because in this period, the common
Filipino children set foot for the first time in community schools. The Philippines public
school system was established by the Public Act No. 74 n 1901. Enacted into law by the
Philippine Commission, the Act created the Department of Public Instruction, laid the
foundations of the public school system in the Philippines, provided for the PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 13 establishment of the Philippine Normal School
in Manila and made English as the medium of instruction. President McKinley
announced the policy of “benevolent assimilation,” an ideology that expressed great
faith in the necessity of public schools. In The Public School System in the Philippines,
French (1905) described the indirect benefits under the discretion of the friars in
Catholic schools. The most interesting to me in the course of my reading was when I
came across this article by French. There was the apparent care the Americans actually
had toward the native Filipinos. The indirect benefit the author is referring to of the
Spanish rule is the number of schools built across many different areas of the islands. I
find I am fascinated by the fact that when the Americans came to teach that almost no
Filipino in any of the outlying communities spoke any Spanish or even wanted to. When
spoken to in Spanish everywhere the locals would only stare blankly and not respond.
In English there seemed to be an eagerness to speak with simple words. I wonder if this
is due to wanting to please the new occupiers or if there is more acceptance; perhaps a
little of both. The Spanish with their 300 years of occupation accomplished little. French
observed that the Philippine islands were like no other nation on earth. Nowhere else
was there a wider variation of cultures and languages with completely different beliefs of
life and afterlife. This is what is faced by the teachers; shipped in like cargo and actually
sometimes referred to as such. A highly centralized public school system was installed
in 1901 by the Philippine Commission by virtue of Act No. 74. The implementation of
this Act created a heavy shortage of American teachers so the Philippine Commission
authorized the Secretary of Public Instruction to bring 600 teachers from the U S A.
They were the Thomasites; who got their name from the ship they arrived on, the U.S.S.
Thomas (Republic of the Philippines, Dept. of Education). These American men and
women came to teach boys in the morning and girls in the PUBLIC EDUCATION IN
THE PHILIPPINES 14 afternoon, however school supplies were not provided, and not a
single teacher had been provided with a furnished classroom or a school which was
established by the help of the treasury. The Thomasites were plunged into a mess of
hurriedly built buildings, no knowledge of cultures and this was even during the rainy
season when there was not much food. This author referred to this as comedy being the
almost farcical efforts of the Thomasites to mine for their provisions and live in these
elongated huts called nipa houses. It is astonishing to me that the Spanish did nothing
or perhaps could do nothing to bring cultures together. Perhaps they tried, but in dealing
with all the different populations, and with arrogance and condescension, they only
elicited resentment and resistance. The author refers to even the children smiling and
nodding and saying things that made them seem shallow and vapid. The occupation
was brutal and this is how they learned to deal with the Spanish. Do not express your
thoughts and anger the occupiers. However, energy of the educational effort of Catholic
schools which according to French has been a long operative in the islands, education
was difficult to access. Filipinos who wanted to continue higher education found it
impossible. There were few who were selected by the highest priest. In such a view,
efforts by the Filipino people to educate themselves lay in Church affairs. The problem
continued to spread, and by the turn of 1907 there were more Filipinos who were not
educated. Hardacker (2012) asserts t that social class remained static and immobile
and access to education became even harder for impoverished Filipinos, while the
aristocracy traveled the world to look for literacy and educate themselves in different
languages and cultures. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 15 In a
contrasting opinion, Bennett (1969) argued that Western ideals were just starting to
colonize the country and education was not available to everyone. Filipinos needed to
come forward with hopes that their agonies would be heard. Along with the respect for
learning and western ideals, a new knowledge had come to the Filipino people. That is,
they were simply calling for a clear set of literacy and education programs, but more
importantly the ability to communicate with others, the ability to read documents and
print their name. Signing a document was very confusing task and many Filipinos had
no idea where to look for a help. The position of the Spanish colonization was
exceptional in that the Filipino’s learned absolutely nothing. The assumption was that
the Filipino populace in the country had benefited from free education, not simply in
training courses in colleges and universities. Higher education came up with coerced
medical policy procedures for all women, especially in Catholic schools. Pregnancy
testing was enforced every 3 months for all women and became a standard. Of
increasing importance was the belief that through limiting population growth and through
education was a way to get out of poverty. During this time, French (1905) described
that students in colleges and universities were required to take Spanish classes.
Examinations were both “oral” and “written”. Vocational and Technical training was also
taught in Spanish. Home Economics and History classes were taught by skilled
missionaries and Filipinos were trained in academic and non – academic areas all in
Spanish. In my own time, as a child, I would listen to the stories of my grandmother
handed down and of my mother. Neither she nor my mother spoke Spanish even
though it was required. This is resistance at its most obvious; even though much of the
Philippine population did adopt the ways of the Catholic Church in spite of the many
different religions throughout the islands. One common theme even now in the stories
passed to me and I will pass on; the Philippine people PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 16 hated the Spanish. Both my mother and grandmother would actually
hiss the word hated when referring to them. Both mother and grandmother were subject
to these pregnancy tests. Chapter Summary Philippine’s public education, the 350
years of direct contact under the Spanish Rule, gave rise to a broader spectrum or
wider educational variations, to put it another way. The lines of emphasis and issues
and its major transformation as a system of education, left us the significance of the
Spanish Education Act of 1863. Spanish religious ideals and its influence will remain as
a means of reform in the teaching of language and as a means of support since the
establishment of community schools throughout the Philippines. CHAPTER 2:
AMERICAN STUDIES IN THE PHILIPPINES American Era and the Community
Schools Figure 2: American Colonization in the Philippines Credit: Paul Jeffrey, Social
Documentary Photographer in the Philippines Source: Https//www.youtube.com/watch?
v=History of Education in the Philippines Still Images PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 17 American influence in education filled the Catholic churches with new
life. Education policies were beginning to change. For three decades the Filipinos had
everything to learn and governors made use of every American woman and man on the
islands to teach. However many faults the system of education or its spread may have
had and the many mistakes its various agents may have made during those times; the
truth is that today, there are nearly three hundred thousand Filipino children enrolled in
the public schools, with an average attendance of about quarter a million all over the
Philippine islands. The American Speech Journal (1925) in a further report stated that
the voices of the Education Commissions stressed the use of English language and
chose education reforms over agriculture and trade. It was not wholly an academic
decision that was brought originally, but the report of the Commission on education
gave President McKinley the governing power to decree a free public school system
modeled after the American system. For that matter, there was also money involved in
that the American government paid $20 million dollars for Philippine possession at that
time. The paragraph below was a speech by the education Commission: The
introduction of teaching of English into these schools was received with great
satisfaction by the Filipino natives in Manila. The young Filipinos display of considerable
aptitude for learning new tongues and it believed that if this policy is followed out
English can within a short time be made the official language of the Philippine
archipelago. The Commissions strongly recommends that it be done. This report goes
on to say: The introduction of English, wherever made, had been hailed with delight by
the people, who could hardly believe that they were to be encouraged to learn the
language of those in authority over them. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
18 Figure 3: Images of USS Thomasites teachers in the Philippines 1898 Source:
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Thomasites Interestingly, this view became a
comprehensive framework in educating Filipino natives and was recognized by
President McKinley that a language that would be spoken and understood was indeed
essential for the development of Filipinos and their advancement in civilization.
Organization and Administration of Education in the Philippines Department of
Education Vision (www.depEd.ph.gov) We dream of Filipinos who passionately love
their country and who values and competencies enable them to realize their full
potential and contribute meaningfully to building the nation As a learner – centered
public institution, the Department of Education continuously improve itself to better
serve its stakeholders. The Philippine educational ladder follows the 6 – 4 – 4 plan of
education and it is considered one of the shortest education cycles in the world. This
would be 6 years of PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 19 elementary, 4
years of secondary and 4 years of tertiary education. Connected to the idea of
organization, municipal schools and the administration of public school in the
Philippines began to establish elementary courses for six consecutive years of
education of intermediate level (Grades I – VI). Under the provision of the
Commonwealth Act 381, several municipalities had already constructed larger schools
for the secondary level adding another four years of high school commonly known as
first year to fourth year (I – IV). This is the equivalent of 7 th grade to 11th grade in the
American grade level system. Then comes the next tier with the approval of the senate,
the Governor General and the Director of Education who, by the way, is appointed by
the governor general. In higher education, a four year college or university was
developed and all levels became more highly organized. Table 1: Diagram of the
Organization and Administration of Education in the Philippine Islands.Source: Phi Delta
Kappa International Journal (1928) Pressures and incentives driving the need for
education come from multiple directions. Public schools and their broadened scope
rapidly increased enrollment rate. By 1947, the Philippines was on the road to economic
recovery after World War II. The education field Director of Education Division
Superintendents Division Supervisors Academic Division Supervisors Health Division
Supervisors Industrial Division Supervisor (Other Types) District Supervisors Provincial
H. S. Prin. Elementary Principals Classroom Teachers Classroom Teachers PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 20 lumbered into modern times. Morrison (1953)
discusses the structural changes and the basis for public schools. For instance, the
Department of Education regulated both public and private schools. Following the
establishment of Republic Act 6655, free public secondary education in 1997 was
centralized. This was very beneficial to me during this year and others like me. I could
not have accomplished as much without the free high school education program. I was
born poor and wanted to do more. Education reform in the Philippines was based on the
notion of fairness. The nation’s 2000 education policy for education is served as bridge
for academic possibilities and rewards. De Guzman (2007), writing about Philippine
decentralization initiatives, described in his review that, the Philippine public school
system is considered as one of the largest in the world. The Department of Education
(DepED) Fact Sheet (2005) reports that there are approximately 41, 989 elementary
and secondary public schools and 7790 private schools under the supervision and
regulation of the Department of Education. I remember when I attended the Manila
public schools; I sat most of the time on the floor because there were not enough chairs.
It was hot and so dry and we were sweating, but there was nothing that we could do. I
had to stay in that school because it was the closest to my house and the reality is that
it was the same scenario in other schools. Indeed, some schools were worse than the
one in which my parents had enrolled me. The table below is a graph representation of
public school enrollment at all levels. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 21
Philippines 2000 Table 2: Public Sector Enrollments: percentage of total enrollments,
1982 - 1999. Source: www.deped.gov.ph/- datasets The goal of the Philippine’s 2000
policy was to provide a new perspective in public schools and in classroom instruction.
Due to the insufficient education rate during this period, President Fidel Ramos
designed this platform to advance the achievements in education particularly in youth
literacy; and the platform was also to target high enrollment rate. Its main focus was to
improve equal access and provide higher quality of basic education in the Philippines.
Education policy makers, supervisors, principals and teachers came to see for
themselves and experience the change in public school settings. A new education
reform for bridging the gap was put forth by the Department of Education and instilled
new ideas in the field of public school education. Beyond this, stimulated by
overwhelming population growth, elementary and high school enrollment flooded the
public schools in urban and rural areas. Jimenez & Sawada (2001) suggest that there
was indeed an increased enrollment in both public PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 22 and private schools. They also suggest that this increase was
undoubtedly fueled by a rapid construction of public schools between the years 1986 to
1998. For instance, total public enrollment rose up to 114%. Public education in the
Philippines was fully implemented during the early part of the 20th century. Jimenez &
Sawada explained that before that time, students attended religious institutions as well
as non-sectarian schools. This led to the provision and tradition of a larger role for the
public school system that still persists today, particularly at higher education levels. So
this particular year, the enrollment for primary, secondary and tertiary levels accounts
for over 90% and provides free education to the entire population demonstrating a
strength in the Philippines, where the public sector, according to Jimenez & Sawada
(2001), is strictly not homogenous. Thus, it is very understandable that the quality of
education in all levels of public schooling covers the spectrum from excellent to poor.
However, the effect on the private sector would depend on whether the increasing
enrollment is attracted from the private systems due to the high cost of tuition or from
the youth who would otherwise not seek to pursue higher education. It is not possible to
come up with prior predictions as to what the effect is. The answers may vary
depending on the level of education. Historically Grimes (1928) described three main
reasons why the Philippines had very low achievement standards in education: 1.
Almost insurmountable language difficulties. 2. Filipino teachers largely untrained. 3.
The curriculum is not adapted to the needs of the Filipinos. He argued that the language
problem overshadowed all others for it had political as well as educational significance.
English is the only language used as a medium of Instruction. There PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 23 were regulations in Spanish language and fines
were imposed for the use of Spanish and there are penalties for the use of among
eighty native dialects in schools. Some of this is true today. For example: in my own
school, we are not allowed to speak Ilocano but were required to speak Tagalog when
Filipino subjects are taught. The rest of the subjects were strictly taught in English. This
applies to the use of any other native language anywhere. I remember every time I
spoke Ilocano by mistake, instead of Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines or
English, I would be fined five pesos. The struggle in English language revealed the
difficulty of the student’s task to use his own language, which is Tagalog. For example,
the American child brings to school six years of training in language expression which
the Filipino student does not. This means that for Filipinos, every element of their school
work is challenging. In addition, the prevailing view that students’ languages
represented a “handicap” is highly problematic and deficit-oriented. On the whole,
Symaco (2013) emphasized the Philippine’s low achievement status. First, the public
school curriculum is not adapted to the needs of the Filipino children. Second, the
curriculum was “transplanted” practically without any modification. It is a curriculum that
to this day is being sharply criticized even in America. The Role of Public School
Teachers Evidently, public schools could not function without the passion and devotion
of teachers. According to Symaco, 2013, the typical elementary school teacher in the
Philippines has a very difficult job. The school day usually starts at 7am and continues
to 6 pm. The enrollment of 115 students to 1 teacher ratio is too much. Classrooms are
inadequately furnished with books and other instructional materials in very short supply.
For a ten months year, teachers are paid a very meager salary. Besides teaching
children in schools they are also PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 24
expected to organize community councils for improving living conditions either in the city
schools or in barrio schools. Teachers are frequently expected to teach non-school
youths and adults, sponsored by parent – teacher associations, civic clubs and private
institutions. Many teachers carry this responsibility in addition to their regular classroom
instruction and receive no extra compensation for the extra work that they do. For this
time consuming job, the full time Filipino teacher receives an average of less than $400
per month (about $6 per day). Assuming then that teachers are vulnerable to the overall
influence of public school settings, it is regarded here that a direct measure of the
teacher’s existence is that they facilitate an adequate and meaningful learning for every
student. There are a lot of questions as to the wisdom of burdening teachers with these
additional duties, important as they are. Some educators believe that too much time and
energy is being diverted from formal teaching, sometime at the children’s expense. Most
teachers need in service training for their jobs. They need more competent skills to be
able to teach complex subjects. They need special preparation to demonstrate
professionalism and they need workshops, seminars, meetings, conferences and
activities that carry on at the national level. Today, the strengthening and expanding of
the public schools programs is one of the major aims in the Philippines. PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 25 Figure 4: Image of elementary students in their
uniforms city schools. Source: https://www.google.com/search?
q=images+of+public+schools+in+the+philippines&biw Figure 5: Filipino students sitting
on the floor in class session. I had my share of this for 6 years. Source:
https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+public+schools+in+the+philippines&biw//
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 26 Figure 6: High school students during
class lecture are typical in an open gym. Source: https://www.google.com/search?
q=images+of+public+schools+in+the+philippines&biw// Figure 7: College students
sitting on the school ground. University of the Philippines Source:
https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+public+schools+in+the+philippines&biw//
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 27 Chapter Summary Considering the
progress of popular education in the Philippines and the use of the English language in
both public and private schools suggests that this effort has helped the Philippines as a
developing nation, especially the fostering of free public education. United States’ input
towards education encouraged the Philippine government to establish an equal
opportunity for all Filipino children and families to actively endeavor to pursue
education, and that through acquiring an education; they could improve their personal
and social well-being. The American education base model helped bring Filipinos new
hope to move forward. Its strong influence in introducing schemes of learning will
always be a guiding principle for the Filipino students to perform better in the production
of achievement growth and academic success. CHAPTER 3: EDUCATION ACCESS IN
THE PHILIPPINES Philippine Education towards Decentralization When the century’s
old Education system was no longer working, the Philippines set a new milestone to
improve and centralize public schools. The education system integrated a
reorganization plan. Systems of education around the world, particularly in developing
countries, differ and according to De Guzman (2007) changes in structure were
suggested, aimed at increasing efficiency and effectiveness. He termed this education
process as the system of decentralization. In Webster’s dictionary” decentralization” is
defined as breaking up a concentration of government authority, industry, population,
etc. in a main center and then distributing more widely. De Guzman (2007) stated the
concept of decentralization was prompted under the administration of President Fidel
Ramos in (1990 – 1996). This means that schools have to operate through the various
tasks of responding to the varying needs of the PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 28 different regions. The bigger the system, the more efficient must be
the parts in order to function successfully and the more autonomous the schools
become. De Guzman goes on to say that where appropriate decentralization deals with
less government in order to enable the private sector and civil society to assume a
number of functions conventionally done by the government. Improved effort accounts
responsibility and ensures better school quality. I think that Filipino people value
education so much that the Education Commissions take this decentralization
perspective all the way to a global perspective that enabled the Filipino students to
compete internationally; thus giving them the opportunity to accelerate their potential
and empower their contributions for educational improvements. Multigrade Schools
Most developing countries provide multigrade system in public schools. In Constraints
to Implementing Educational Innovations Benveniste & McEwan (2000) “Multigrade” is
defined as those with classes that are mixed in age and ability. This means that this
system can be cost – effective in raising students’ performance and can be very
beneficial in poor countries. According to Benveniste & McEwan (200) multigrade
settings in developing communities have wide acceptance and study suggest that it is a
very common good educational practice in the Philippines, since the country is
experiencing low enrollment in primary school, especially in rural areas. The
Department of Education established Multigrade schools mainly to provide primary
education to children living in rural areas. In my own experience, having attended three
years in a multigrade classroom, I found I not only had no problem with it but I feel it
actually broadened my experience. It is very typical for a Multigrade classroom to have
only one teacher. In this type of classroom setting, from the experts’ point of view, we
can expect a few setbacks and PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 29 other
kinds of constraints. Benveniste & McEwan (2000) discussed this in the case of the
multigrade system; the constraint that they both refer to is the lack of teacher input such
as teacher training, or self-instructional textbooks. Thus far, teachers play a key role in
determining whether and how children are being educated, which may or may not be
aligned with education policymakers’ initial plans but for the sake of implementation and
organization. I believe that altering the “core” educational practice does not delineate
the student’s over all learning capacity. Multigrade System in Macro and Micro Level
Features Attention turned to a major problem of multigrade implementation. The
essence of public service and the setting up of an educational innovation of a large
scale is a difficult challenge. Multigrade schools have to follow strict rules and core
education practice regulations. To better understand what ‘core’ means is, consider how
Benveniste & McEwan (2001) defines this term: How teachers understand the nature of
knowledge and the student’s role in learning and how these ideas about knowledge and
learning are manifested in teaching and classwork. The “core” also includes structural
arrangements of schools, such as the physical layout of classrooms, student grouping
practices, teachers’ responsibilities for groups of students, and relations among
teachers in their work with students as well as processes for assessing student learning
and communicating it into students, parents administration, and other interested parties”
(p. 35). The fact that core educational practices in rural areas in the Philippines are
often centered in a rigid format in teachers’ lecture instructions, students passively copy
from the blackboard, participation is not encouraged, and rote memorization is a typical
norm. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 30 Benveniste & McEwan (2001)
argued that multigrade implementation is problematic in regard to the core. For
instance, teachers would move away from their traditional role as direct educators who
guide students’ independent efforts to acquire learning. As a result, the multigrade
classroom foundation would appear very different and shifting away from the common
teaching model, which would not work anyway, because multigrade programs are
designed to facilitate collaborative learning. These results suggest the importance of
basic primary education in rural areas and teacher experience that is more traditional.
As mentioned earlier in regards to constraints, another finding in other studies in having
multigrade classroom is the criticism of quality measurements. In the book, Schools,
school quality and achievement growth: Evidence from the Philippines, Bacolod &
Tobias (2006) considered “class size”. They argued that this particular finding is
consistent with other studies of schooling in developing countries. In Engaging the
Community, Targeted Interventions: Achieving Scale in Basic Education Reform
Nebress (2009) suggested two approaches to improving multigrade education in the
social context of Philippine schools:  Attending to the macro-problems through
creating the absorptive capacity of schools and clusters to take in and implement
significant reform and improvement.  Attending to the micro-problems through
targeted and focused interventions to address priority needs, both academic and non-
academic. This means meeting the schools where they are, setting next level targets
with them, and moving them to improved stages (p. 232). However, the multigrade
system feature is not unique to the Philippines as this is also practiced in other
countries; Cambodia and Indonesia to be specific. According to Symaco PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 31 (2013) in Geographis of Social Exclusion;
Education Access in the Philippines, she states that there are one million students
enrolled in multigrade schools under the education policy known as Education for All
(EFA). She also emphasizes in reference to multigrade schools in Vietnam, that the
Multigrade curriculum content is seemingly superfluous and inadequate due to the
school location which is very remote, and consequently, no teachers want to respond to
job postings. Clearly, location affects participation in education and access to other
social services, by rural areas or urban areas in the region. The Philippine government
and the centralized education system of the country add to the overall improvement and
success of multigrade school development is very essential to all Filipino people. Of
course, given the education for All Education Act, we can expect the expectations are
going to be high with no exemptions for the quality and access of education in all parts
of the country. The distinct dependency feature of multigrade programs particularly in
some areas that was discussed in terms of distance and location; the evidence is
regrettable because in these particular areas children, youth or adults do not benefit
from the program itself. There is a disproportion to education access. This goes to show
that there is still a lot that needs to be done and it is my recommendation for urgency to
respond to this most dire of places in the country and to persistently respond to
education inclusion. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 32 K to 12 Basic
Education: The Right Choice Figure 8: Kindergarten with the Department of Education,
Philippines Source: https://www.google.com/search?
q=images+of+teachers+in+the+philippines// One other relevant line of research in
Philippine Education is the significance of K to 12 curriculums in Philippine public
schools. Changing the traditional state nature of education indicates that they are ready
to compete with other countries. There was no Kindergarten program in my school or
any other school in the 1980’s when I started. This recent new program will benefit
millions of children in the Philippines to start their education early. I feel that a
kindergarten education background could have benefited me, but this is not to say that
my education background is inadequate. To provide some focus and context, according
to the Department of Education (2016), the K to 12 Program covers 13 years of basic
education with the following key stages: PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
33  Kindergarten to Grade 3  Grades 4 to 6  Grades 7 to 10 ( Junior High School)
 Grades 11 and 12 (Senior High School) Although the Philippines has opted to go with
the 12-year program, the reason behind this is that the Department of Education (2016)
found K to 12 to be the best practice for learning under basic education policies, plus it
is also a recognized standard for students and professionals globally. The Philippines is
in the midst of enforcing changes in education curriculum. There was recognition and
acceptance that our government is playing a major role in this effort. The basic
education practices were deeply embedded in Philippine’s education system and beliefs
and would change only through direct implementation of the newest curriculum.
Through the establishment of K to 12, the approach has produced very dramatic impact
on public schools. According to the Department of Education (2016), the Commission
on Education personnel was brought to full scale. Last year, 2015 was marked for the
implementation of Senior High School (SHS) for the year 2016 – 2017. Up until this
time, K-12 did not include senior high school. Far more of the conservative planning in
all divisions of Department of Education (2016) in the \\DepEd.gov.ph website, the
education policy makers has constructed plans for a new interpretation of K to 12
curriculum. The following plans are briefly described below:  Classroom: Department
of Education has built 66, 813 classrooms from 2010 to 2013. At least 5 thousand
classrooms goes to Senior High Schools (SHS)  Teachers: From 2010 – 2014,
Department of Education is targeting two kinds of teachers: Core subjects teachers and
specialized subject teachers per track. The PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 34 Department of Education plans to hire 37, 000 teachers only for
Senior High School (SHS)  Textbooks: Learning materials for elementary are being
produced while textbooks for Senior High Schools are being bid out.  Curriculum: First
time in history that this particular curriculum is digitized and made accessible to the
public (www.deped.gov.ph/features). Many programs have been implemented but this
system is still far from sufficient. After all, the program is just getting started. Ultimately,
as the country approach is universal, the standards are underway to address this. Major
changes have occurred in the Philippine education society and its economy. It seems
reasonable to accept that the K to 12 programs represents a substantial and equitable
approach to provide education to those students who are unable to afford the continuing
high rising cost of education. Chapter Summary In the Philippines, K to 12
implementation is powerful development for this generation, and it will create a
sustainable opportunity by expanding the definition of Education for All (EFA).
Education access in the Philippines is a big enterprise that must reach out beyond
schools to give chance and hope to millions of students in the country. I am convinced
based on the facts and evidence that I presented, that we have a good understanding of
Philippine Education. Changing attitudes is essential. These attitudes say that everyone
deserves quality education and now policies include the dialects and languages spoken
in the outlying provinces. Gone is Tagalog only, and classes are becoming bi-lingual,
even tri-lingual. I was joyful when I went to the deped website and found instructions
being presented in Ilocano, my first language, as well as Tagalog and English. This is
happening all over the Philippines. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 35
There have been only three major education reforms enacted in the Philippines since
Japanese occupation to Philippines 2000, Education for All (EFA) and now the newly
establish education policy K to 12; this as a promise to end the achievement gap in the
country. It is my belief that the K to 12 education program will make a difference in
moving toward the goal of equal opportunity in a continuing developing society. My
position is that my tiny country continues to show gains in educational context to this
day. CHAPTER 4 I AM A TEACHER, NOT A SAINT Figure 9: Ramos Elementary
School Teachers Source: https://www.google.com/search?
q=images+of+teachers+in+the+Philippines// Like most students, when it comes to
talking about teachers, each student has a unique story to tell. One unique memory for
me is this: PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 36 I remember, while
attempting t read English, hearing my teacher let out a scream that seemed to echo in
all corners of our classroom. I looked up to be greeted suddenly by the hard blunt edge
of an eraser being bounced off my forehead followed by the white powder of chalk dust
covering my face and in my eyes. I came up sputtering. “Don’t you know how to read?!”
The next thing that followed was my teacher standing directly in front of me holding a
very thick book. I was ordered to stand out in the sun holding several of those books in
my tiny hands as a punishment. I cried for hours, I felt anger and hatred. The next day, I
chose to keep to myself and say nothing. Many of us were subject to her discipline. She
would hit our hands with a bamboo stick to the point of leaving marks. She was
eventually transferred after parents complained. Disciplining a teacher like this is
unusual, but her treatment was over the top. My parents were irate. When a teacher
genuinely cares enough to know her/his profession and is experienced to educate and
inspire, there must be a passion to teach and to the students. My statement here is that
my teacher should not have been in the classroom. Of course, we can all agree that a
harmonious and supportive relationship with the teacher can influence a student’s
interest and even shape a student’s morality. In the process of learning in schools,
teacher education, teacher effectiveness, teacher morale and teacher leadership are
very important standard measures for professional growth and skills. The purpose of
this study is to determine factors contributing to all these types of quality measures in
both schools, public or private. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 37 Teacher
Education in the Philippines The preparation of Filipino Teachers is the main focal point
in growth of the educational system in the Philippines. From the Spanish American post-
colonial period, education access in the country has received the continued support and
attention of the government. Through the Commonwealth Period, during then after the
Japanese occupation (1941 – 1970), new demands were placed on the preparation of
Filipino teachers, which was considerably rigid and schools were greatly affected. This
was the transition period, when the colleges tried to expand and improve teacher
education curriculum, to bring teachers closer to the community and to the public
schools. Savellano (1999) stated in Teacher Education in the Philippines that beginning
with this period the Philippines and Japan both agreed ideologically to establish an East
Asia CoProsperity Sphere, meaning that the Japanese Military administration required
the orientation and retraining for all pre-war Filipino teachers for the purpose of college
institutions. He also found in his study that only the state colleges of education allowed
to reopen were those that trained teachers for elementary schools. Before a teacher
could teach, a curriculum of Bachelors in Elementary Education (BSE) Savellano (1999)
asserted that the integration of major and minor subjects served as a foundation in
teaching areas and to keep with the broader fields of knowledge. In today’s standard, a
teacher is required to have the College of Education for Masters and Doctoral programs
leading to teaching. In doing so the schools are not only producing teachers, but the
purpose of higher education programs was to develop different types of educational
personnel needed by the educational system. Of course, we want better teachers,
Savellano (1999) pointed out. That is, the overall success of students is positively
associated with successful teaching. It must be noted that good teaching does not
automatically occur when teachers know their subject. By offering PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 38 other research points of view, Lunenberg (2000)
argues in Educational Administration Concerns and Practices that the knowledge of
subject matter does not necessarily make a person a good teacher of that subject,
however, it seems reasonable to conclude that teachers with good instructional skills
would be more effective if they have in depth knowledge of the subjects that they are
teaching. Taken together, these findings indicate increasing opportunities for choice to
deliver quality instruction. Watson (2000) in School Effectiveness and School
improvement assumes that the image of the teacher education student as intellectually
inferior to other teacher candidates must change. He stated that teacher education
institutions in the Philippines can contribute to this goal by addressing both external and
internal factors. He states that the external factors of teacher education institutions must
continue to work with education policies and professional organizations for the
improvement of teachers’ salaries and working conditions and for the creation of
incentives for all qualified students to pursue higher education programs and go back
into teaching. Furthermore, Watson’s idea of internal factors is that teacher education
institutions should give strong considerations for entrance exams and provide make up
exams for students who wish to prepare to be a teacher and give those students
chances to meet the requirements. Watson believes that alternative standards would
attract more students in the major field. Teacher Effectiveness: Focus and Design of
Quality Education Another primary key to assess education quality suggested by De
Guzman (2007) in his study, the following concerns how teacher effectiveness
enhances quality teaching. De Guzman (2007) pointed out in his recommendations to
demonstrate effectiveness in the classroom includes: PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 39  providing licensing test to qualify all college graduates to teach and
determines promotions  imposing higher admission requirements for pre-service
teacher education, establishing centers for excellence for teacher education to lure in
the best candidates  Providing scholarships for teacher education and improving and
expanding teachers’ benefits including dental care and free legal services. (p. 56) On
top of these recommendations, using the data available from De Guzman (2007), the
Philippine Economic Society (1999) establishes fairly broader teacher effectiveness
quality measures which are briefly stated below: (a) Make teaching the primary activity
of teachers and eliminate various distraction that remove teachers from classroom on a
regular basis. (These include the current practice of assigning teachers to administrative
and clerical functions in school and local district offices, involving teachers in fund-
raising activities during school hours, and engaging teachers heavily in the electoral
process); (b) expand the mandate of local school boards to include decision making
over teacher deployment, promotions and incentives that hold promise for effecting
improvements in the quality of teaching; and (c) provide incentive schemes that will
reward teachers for what they know and do, as measured by objective, multi-faceted
performance assessments rather than simply how long they have been in the system.
(d) Widening the pay structure within grade levels allows differentiation among teachers
by measured competencies and performance (p. 618). PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 40 In addition, while there are opposing sides relating to teacher
effectiveness, Gaziel (1998) in School Based-Management as a Factor in School
Effectiveness stated that the fact still remains that teacher effectiveness, which is rooted
in their professional growth and commitment, can be achieved if sufficient benefits and
professional autonomy are being offered to them. However, in the case of a developing
country like the Philippines, teacher effectiveness raises implications for policy and
practice. Such measures would provide an even more complete variation in teacher
quality over time and provide a much firmer approach based upon future curricular
improvements in the classrooms. Teacher Morale: A Variable for Positive Climate
Teacher morale is a one of the biggest concerns in schools among education
professionals because of the high incidence of teacher burn-out which can lead to
unacceptable or inappropriate behaviors towards the students. For example, Nidich &
Nidich (1986) in her article A Study of School Organizational Climate Variables
Associated with Teacher Morale discuss teachers who have a negative or a positive
view in regards to his/her interaction with the students. These authors stated that
teacher morale is subsequently related to student social development. According to
Nidich & Nidich (1986), schools assessed as being more satisfying had teachers with a
more positive view of the workplace. However Boocock (1996) in The School as a
Social Environment for Learning stated that teacher morale is most directly affected by
the behavior of the student and in return affects teacher performance, which then
completely affects students’ performance in school. It was also found in this particular
study, that when teachers were given a greater voice in making decisions regarding
classroom instruction, teacher morale was higher in the school. This suggests that
variables that are the best predictors of teacher morale are also most likely those that
are open to educational intervention. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 41
Teacher Leadership Although we find some negative association in teacher
effectiveness quality measures, still, the findings are exploratory. Additionally, teacher
leadership does directly assess the effects of instructional leadership activities inside
the classroom. A related article takes into account a deeper understanding on how
important teacher leadership is in teacher instructional practices. In Engaging the
Community, Targeted Interventions: Achieving Scale in the Basic Education Reform
Nebres (2009) indicated teacher leadership was a critical variable in determining high
performing schools. Nebres (2009) explains that in the Philippines, the Department of
Education’s main goal is to improve school performances and students achievement
through decisions made by all those closely involved with resolving the challenges of
the individual schools so that the particular needs of the students will be served more
effectively. The DepEd objectives were to empower the teacher’s leadership and
provide efficiency to mobilize the community as well the local units to invest time,
money and effort in making the school a better place to learn, thus improving the
educational achievement of the children. Given these standard measures, Nebres
(2009) set up a framework that integrates teacher leadership at play in schools: 
Leadership ( dynamic school teachers)  Strong partnerships with local government
units (LGUs) or parent – teacher community associations (PTCAs)  Access to basic
inputs such as classroom and textbooks  Focused teacher competency development
or in service training (INSET)  Support system as the district/division levels (p. 240).
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 42 Teacher Accreditation in the
Philippines To expand opportunity, education policy makers must be supported by
policies that improve opportunity in teacher accreditation. Savellano (1999) in Teacher
Education in the Philippines emphasizes that under the Philippine Association for
Teacher Education (PAFTE) is responsible for accrediting teachers. According to
Savellano (1999), through the years the agency has demonstrated its commitment to
promote, upgrade, and maintain standards of teacher education through a variety of
professional activities, at both national and regional levels. She believes that the
invaluable contribution of PAFTE to teacher education was upgrading the status of
teaching as a profession. This contribution has been recognized by other agencies such
as:  Department of Education (DepEd), an agency responsible for regulating and
managing the Philippine system of basic education,  Commission on Higher Education
(CHED), an agency that formulates and recommends development plans, policies,
priorities, and programs on higher education  The Professional Regulation Commission
(PRC) is an agency responsible for the administration, implementation and enforcement
of regulatory policies on the licensing of various professions and occupations in the
Philippines (p. 260). The governing principles of Philippine education are that teachers
are strictly monitored by these agencies; with the implementation of Republic Act No.
9293, an act designed to strengthen the regulation and supervision of the practice of
teaching in the Philippines and prescribing licensure examination for teachers and for
other purposes. Savellano (1999) reported PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
43 that the function of these agencies is to assist in the accreditation of continuing
professional education programs for teachers. The association’s directive to enhance
quality for teacher education is manifested in its dynamic and continuing program of
professional activities for its members; relevant researcher extension activities for the
faculty of teacher education institutions; the writing of books for professional education
courses, communication with policy makers and the establishment of agencies and
organization in Philippine education. Chapter Summary Schools in this case, may be
better served if teachers integrate leadership in instructional activities as a
representation of every day practice. Focusing on all of these standard quality
instruction measures and getting the community involved would be useful for furthering
understanding that teachers cannot do all this on their own. Teachers also need support
in order to influence student behavior and student learning. The lesson learned here is
that initiatives on lesson guides are worth noting. It is also important to note that the
success of schools is dependent in the huge role they play in their effort to make
change. CHAPTER 5: THE STORY BEHIND NUMBERS Alternative Learning System,
Inclusive Education: The Story behind the Numbers Biggs & Bruder (1967) report the
following: Education in general and language education in particular, should be
concerned with helping not only children but adults form Eyes that are powerful,
imaginative and critical; Eyes that are able to critique the world as one constantly
construct and reconstructs that world through interaction with others; Eyes that delight
in the beauty and wonder of all PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 44 things,
but especially in the wonder and beauty of texts skillfully and imaginatively used (p. 38).
It is disconcerting to me and I wonder why there are so many adults in my country who
cannot read or write. Literacy was pushed in my family and I have always felt such a
sense of accomplishment after finishing a book. It was through books that I have
journeyed through time, or visited a strange land or became familiar with a culture very
different from my own. Always, I felt so much has been added to who I am. A book
unread, a book that can’t be understood, is of little use as a pencil to someone who
can’t write. It is unfathomable to me. Current Trends in Literacy In the article
Communication Channels and Functional Literacy in the Philippine Rural Areas by
Young & Hunt (1962), the authors defined “functional literacy” as the ability to read and
comprehend enough of what is read to pass this comprehension on to others.
Greenberg & Lackey (2006) noted that the Filipino people simply called for a clear set of
literacy goals and strategies for implementation planning, and desired the ability to
communicate with others, the ability to read documents and be able to print their name
on the bottom of the paper. Signing a document was a very confusing task for many
people and they had no idea where to look for a help. For example, drawing from the
most recent survey on literacy skills Greenberg & Lackey explained that some adult
learners in the literacy programs reported that adults’ inability to read and write well is
problematic because they are being confronted with literacy issues in their daily lives.
The Philippine people are just now facing the reality and therefore realizing how
deficient their reading and writings skills truly are. Greenberg & Lackey described
different emotions that adults go through. Some individuals with low reading and writing
abilities displayed feelings of shame, while other individuals choose to display PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 45 defensive acts and tried to hide poor literacy
skills at the mention of anything that might expose literacy issues. During the course of
voters’ registration I remember clearly my personal interaction with an old woman, and I
witnessed her personal conflict and watched her fear when she was presented with a
form to fill out. Lola, my grandmother, was a 77 year old Filipino woman who recognized
letters and numbers at the second grade level. She never completed elementary school
and failed to earn any degree. She was forced to drop out of school because her mother
told her that education was not important and that women were destined to stay in the
home takes care of her husband, siblings and children. Lola wanted to go back to
school but felt it had become too late. She had very poor reading and no writing skills,
but had excellent verbal skills in Ilocano, the language of the Cagayan Valley. She was
sometimes afraid to meet teachers because of memories of feeling embarrassed and
hopelessness in social settings. Through my interactions with my grandmother I
witnessed her deep sadness and regret, and she often expressed those regrets in
describing her struggle to not even being able to read a simple magazine in our own
language and she so wished she could read the Bible, being a very religious person. An
individual who reads below a second grade level struggles so much in completing paper
work. It was my grandmother who was the inspiration for all of us to be educated
beyond high school. Knowing all the obstacles and frustrations she’d been through, she
demonstrated other strengths that helped her to survive and I am proud to call Lola, a
friend and a great grandmother. She told me I did not go to school and I did not have
the education like your mother did. My parents were illiterate and I can’t read, I can’t
spell but I can write my own name. I am illiterate my granddaughter. She said in a very
soft voice. I love writing my name and I just love to look the picture in books. There was
a sudden sadness between me and grandma but I PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 46 remained very quiet. I don’t blame your mother at all”. As she said it,
she covered her face with her dirty hands and started crying. She looked at me and said
quietly, “your mother is a good teacher and I am very proud of her.” There was a smile
between her tears. I found myself crying too. She squeezed my hand, so tiny in hers,
and signaled me to fetch some water from the well Lola, personal communication). I
think of my grandmother, being one of the disadvantaged adults in her time, urging me
to read and write until I thought my head would explode. I have memories of my mother
back in the 1980’s pushing me to study my ABC’s, to master number operations, to
speak my language fluently, and English, and what it meant to be literate as very vital
components in order to function every day. Such a story brought consequences for my
mother and made me think that for an individual to understand a bunch of numbers or
letters. Non-reading adults really did not know what to do. In a personal interview, six
months after completing a Master of Education course; my mother Ester, a teacher,
stated she was continuing to work on her own literacy skills and had been teaching local
adult education classes for eight consecutive years. Ester was a 68 year old Filipino
woman and a public school elementary teacher. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in
Elementary Education and has taught multiple grade level for 25 years. She also
received a few Teachers’ Award and Woman of the Year Award (Region II Women’s
Representative) from the Department of Education. Every Saturday morning, the
beginning of a typical class, it was time to help adults learn how to read and write. She
encouraged spouses, children, relatives or friends with reading and understanding
difficulty what it’s like to read a pesticide label specifically for rice farming. During the
course of her class she had consistent attendance and active PUBLIC EDUCATION IN
THE PHILIPPINES 47 participation (classes met 5 hours per week). She taught
vocabulary skills, fluency and reading comprehension abilities especially to farmers who
could not read chemical labels. Ester was and is a professional in social work settings
and strong promoter of literacy in her community. She had many takers and her class
grew with many of her students being thirteen year old girls with babies. It filled her with
dismay to see such babies already having babies. She is excellent in both speaking and
writing but barely passed her Spanish class. She showed care and sympathy to those
people who struggled every day and told them to never be afraid to open a book. She
used her own money to buy schools supplies such as pad paper, chalk and crayons.
Through my interactions with her I watched her constantly force my father to sharpen
dozens of pencils for her adult students and I was appointed as her official “eraser girl”.
When she encountered hindrances, instead of becoming disappointed or frustrated to
non-responsive participants, she helped them by giving words of encouragements and
used real life situations they could relate to and learn from. Some of the participants left
and never came back when presented with difficult tasks, but those participants who
overcame literacy obstacles learned reluctantly to face the reality without any fear and
even became skilled hagglers in the market. The image of her holding a bamboo stick
pointing to every word on the black board as her students repeated after her became
one of my favorite memories with my greatest teacher, my lovely mother. Mothers can
help their children begin to deal with day-to-day reading habits. To expand the
opportunity of my literacy is something that my parents have passed on to me. Since we
all learn from our experiences it is clear that in order to gain literacy in reading and in
writing it has to be worked for. Even with the rebels occupying our valley, terrorizing our
schools, threatening PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 48 and even
murdering our teachers, school went on and our classes were extremely full; sometimes
140 students to one teacher. We went to school in fear because all we wanted was to
learn, especially to learn to read. It is true that culture plays such an important part in
going to school. The biggest problem with growing up literate is that very often we are
interrupted by difficulties of life. Young girls at the age of 13 are expected to work in the
fields, take care of families and many were already pregnant. As mentioned earlier,
many of these young girls ended up in my mother’s adult classes. My mother’s
education had and continues to have a significant impact in my success in school. I am
a proud Filipina. I was born and raised in the Cagayan Valley, a farm girl, in a small
town known as a barrio Santo Thomas to be exact. I come from an educated family
because my grandmother demanded it. I went to a community public elementary school
and moved to Manila when I was a third grader. In my elementary years I struggled in
learning Tagalog and did not give up. I was ridiculed and it was difficult to make friends.
I was sent to a Catholic private institution for my high school and by the time I
completed, I was fluent in Tagalog and my English continued to improve. By age sixteen
I was computer literate and won gold and silver medals in Spelling Bee contests. I
believed teaching was for me so I pursued BS Degree and I majored Preschool. I also
went to a private school during college years. For many reasons, I engaged in social
work interactions and taught Preschool for seven years in a Montessori school. A really
big difference in my schooling compared to that of my grandmother and mother is the
availability of technology and my enthusiasm to learn other languages, Japanese in
particular. I dream to be an aspiring linguist and I am yearning for more. I was able to
travel on my own and visit Hong Kong and Singapore and become acquainted with a
culture very different from my own. If not for the ability to read and write I PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 49 would not have been able to get on the plane
and I would not have been able to access the subway train or the public bus. Always, I
felt so much has been added to who I am. Spence (2001) stated that teaching literacy
had given her fulfillment and rewarded her in many ways. She described a truth for her,
in that teaching literacy is like rivers that unite us. It is no less true of those traces of
hidden letters and words which we call texts. The ink has not yet dried and this we
know; that we can discern the outlines of those older scripts, scribbled images on
cracked walls which made it possible to many to come about and thereby almost efface
them. She has inspired many people including me. I also learned that literacy is
measurable. DeYoung & Hunt (1962), measured literacy through tests. Both authors
claimed the importance of understanding literacy and the mass media. They pointed out
that the Philippine government bureaucracy is more experienced than many
neighboring independent countries but still faces enormous challenges with regard to
literacy issues. In spite of Government policy focusing on the importance of universal
primary education, children miss school completely, attend for only a short time and
classes are large. The lack of funding makes it difficult to add more teachers and
schools. Therefore this continues to be an ongoing problem. Determining Functional
Literacy A survey team of educators and psychologists used reading tests to measure
literacy skills of mostly adults and the tests were administered in English and all major
Filipino languages. In the Philippines, there are more than 70 languages, 9 of which are
considered major dialects that are widely spoken in the country. The participants in this
survey are the male head of household, housewives, out of school males and out of
school females. The findings of this study are shown below and the main focus
participants are the housewives groups only. The subject respondents PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 50 were 128 participants determined as poor
readers or non-readers enrolled in adult literacy curriculum. The age range is from 19 to
70 years, the average being 30.3 years old. The educators and psychologists in the
adult literacy claimed that at least 63% of the overall samples were literate but the test
showed an alarming and very inadequate result in that of 19.2% who claimed to be
literate adults could not perform on the lowest structure of functional literacy in any of
the languages of the test provided. This study by Cristobal (2015), based on the report
taken from Literacy in the Philippines, reflects a trend that older adults rather than the
younger group were very likely to attend literacy programs. Figure 8: A teacher leads an
adult literacy class in Bataan Valley on the Island of Northern Philippines. (ALC) Adult
Literacy Curriculum about an hour and a half’s walk from the main road. Credit: Paul
Jeffrey, Social Documentary Photographer in the Philippines: Source:
http://kairosphotos. photoshelter.com /search?KW= Philippines&I// The article Learning
and Unlearning: the Education of Teacher Education CochranSmith (2013) noted that in
the process of learning to become a literate adult, questions of injustice play some role;
referring to the role of society in how adults are viewed as illiterate, often as being
incompetent. Many interviewers or researchers are aware of the difficulties of listening
to participant’s testimonials. The researcher’s subjectivity can extend beyond the truth
of what is being expressed by the participants. In addition to wondering how we are
going to do PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 51 this, we have to consider
the significance of the questions we are going to ask. Taken from the Journal of
Education Horizons (1987), these six credible questions were asked and answers are
provided. This research was conducted in the Philippines as part of the study. 1. What
do you remember about learning to read? 2. Was it pleasant, or was it painful? 3. How
do you feel about it today? 4. What was learning to read like? 5. What problems do you
have with reading? 6. What caused your reading problems? (p. 337) When asked if they
could read, 98.2 % said they could not read and 16% said they could. However the non-
reading adults admitted that they had a reading difficulty. When asked what type of
material they read on a daily basis, respondents most often preferred the newspaper.
Seven percent reported that they read comics or magazines and 2.3% reported they
read real books. In response to the question, “What do you remember about learning to
read?” the participants answered that they had no memory of the event. The
respondents’ answer to the question, “Was it pleasant, or was it painful?” was that they
acknowledged feeling somewhat pained and uncomfortable. Most of the participants
answered the question, “How do you feel about it today?” saying that they felt a sense
of struggle day to day and the majority reported to be feeling emotional about the
struggle. The participants responded to the question, “What was learning to read like?”
with “very shameful” “very difficult” and “happy.” When they were asked, “What
problems do you have with reading?” 100% of the participants responded they felt they
were not progressing, had difficulty in pronunciation and the participants said such
things as “big words are hard to PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 52
pronounce” “some words – I’ve never seen them before”, “I don’t know how to say
them”, “Have problems with sounding out the ends of words”; this in their native tongue
of Tagalog. In the last question, “What caused your reading problems?” 88% of the
participants answered they blamed themselves. Figure 9: A 65 years old elderly woman
learning how to write; the oldest student in the group of females. Credit: Paul Jeffrey,
Social Documentary Photographer in the Philippines Source:
http://kairosphotos.photoshelter.com/search?KW=Philippines&I// Young & Hunt (1962)
described literacy community programs as using several approaches. First, the direct
approach which takes place as the educator works directly with the community in a
setting not necessarily in the classroom such as an office or a gym; and second, the
indirect approach, is the use of indirect vocabulary through being read to and through
reading on their own and also attempts to make the subject matter of instruction as
functional as possible in order to achieve better understanding and adequate learning.
These experiences can serve the well-being of the adult student and afford the
opportunity to learn more about the social world. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 53 Is it possible get future educators and researchers to take a very
serious interest in educating and what it means to be an illiterate adult? As such, Biggs
& Bruder’s (1987) findings of the difficult truths and injustices of literacy is very personal
In their studies, the amount of schooling among the participants varied. Roughly ½ of
128 participants completed only second grade; ¼ of 128 participants completed only 4th
grade and 1/20 had not finished elementary education. Greenberg (2006) discussed
adult literacy program’s potential contribution to improving adult literacy in the
Philippines. In the table below, Greenberg demonstrates how we are measuring literacy
and how important this measuring is for the use and understanding of any given
communication program. With the exception of the English language, the participating
native languages are from the biggest islands known as Luzon - Ilocano is the major
dialect, Visayas - Cebuano is the dominant native dialect and Mindanao where
Hiligaynon is widely spoken. English is the second language in the Philippines and the
medium of Instruction in Elementary, Secondary and Tertiary schools and Tagalog is
the official language of the Philippines. The Measurement of Literacy Test Male Head
Housewives Out of school Male Out of school Female English 18.2% 22.3% 10.6%
13.2% Tagalog 28.4 38.2 10.2 22.3 Ilocano 34.8 29.5 32.4 34.5 Cebuano 13.6 16.5
16.6 9.1 Hiligaynon 19.4 18.1 16.6 23.1 On all tests 18.2 21.6 17.2 19.8 Table 2 –
Scores received on Functional Literacy Tests by housewives Group Source: De Young
and Hunt (1962) PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 54 The Journal of
Educational Horizons (1987) shows data results from the article Proportion of Literacy in
Non-literate Adults. The above table reveals variations between the participants of the
household and in the performance of different languages. Tagalog, the official language
in the Philippines and widely spoken in Manila area, Ilocano comes next, the language
of the largest island in the country and I am proud to call it my first language, had the
highest discrepancy between claim and performance. Scores from the literacy tests
were primarily either “good” or “fair”. The scores for housewives showed alarming
results scoring the lowest ranking group. This indicates that participants who passed the
literacy test did so with a very clear margin. Studying functional literacy within the city
schools in the Philippines is very complicated and required extensive examination using
class grouping before exploring the literacy test and scores. Bennet (1969) argued that
within different geographic locations, literacy opportunities differed. For example, urban
populations are usually more literate and have higher grade attainment than individuals
in the rural areas. We can give the impression of reasoning and behind the motivation of
each participant in the literacy test is significant effort and I will agree, based upon
personal experience, this statement seems to be true. Bennett (1969) and Greenberg
(2006) have different findings in their survey due primarily to the location of the survey.
Bennett conducted his survey in Luzon, a very large area and very much developed.
Greenberg (2006) studied locations that were inaccessible with very few schools nearby
where getting to these locations would sometimes require a 20 mile journey to find a
school. I support the argument by presenting Bennett’s (1969) view of literacy and
educational attainment; particularly the province of Luzon has been recognized among
those few provinces that have the highest recorded rates of literacy. For this reason we
can think that this particular PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 55 area of the
Philippines has been providing adequate learning for non-literate adults. Bennett (1969)
introduced the apparent differences in attaining adult literacy describes as; a) the
province or the barrio environment one lives in; b) his or her sex gender; and c) whether
or not the adult learner lives in an urban or rural area. Of importance is how
progressive, and by this I mean flexible and adaptable, the municipality is in which the
participant resides. Some of these approaches will be more appropriate than others and
some approaches produce better and reliable results than others. Bennett claimed that
there is at least a 30% point difference between urban and rural areas and that the
populace living in a progressive municipality are the most literate residents. Between
genders there is a 5% point difference between the males and the females. On average,
males are believed to be the most literate followed by the females. Literacy rates vary
between urban and rural. Rural males fall in range of 65 % to 91% and for rural females
the range is 65% to 88%. Rural females were determined to have the lowest rates of
literacy and indicated the greatest amount of geographic variation. There is the simple
point that non-reader adults and their families need to know the location of literacy
programs that are available in town. The learning acquisition for all the participants is
extremely different, many of whom were elementary drop outs unable to continue
school. The elegance and the fluency of one’s literacy skill is, of course, essential and
looking back and based on the findings, it is very obvious to me that there is so much
more research to be done. Clearly more adult literacy programs need to be made
available to all Filipinos to have a greater impact. Biggs & Bruder (1987) also suggested
that the background for adult literacy in the Philippines is influenced by family habits in
their everyday lives. However, the participants PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES 56 of this study did not seem to have the difference within their family’s
literacy background that was expected. According to this study:  Roughly 1/3 of the
parents of these adults did not set foot in schools.  96 % of the parents spoke their
native languages and not English.  85% of the participants reported that the remaining
member of the family is unable to read or write.  48.6 % of the participants reported
that their children were experiencing trouble with reading and writing in school.  95% of
the participants reported that no one had read to them as children and family members
reported same (p. 37). In addition, it was anticipated that the absence of formal
schooling, from the experiences of the participants, affected and changed their progress
in both reading and learning. Biggs & Bruder (1987) explained that this specific question
was intended to elicit information about the reading process – decoding, deconstructing,
comprehension, learning vocabularies and memory recall. This is because most of the
subjects were in reading programs focused on solving specific reading skill problems
and this was a reasonable question for an interviewer to ask in his or her research.
Aside from better reading programs, according to Lee (2015) in Reading in the
Philippines, the overall improvement in teacher training, teaching materials and reading
programs have also contributed to the rising numbers in functional literacy. With the
implementation of the K-12 program on a nationwide scale, which began during 2012 –
2013 school year, there is now a broad emphasis on mother tongue literacy, which is
being promoted in 12 languages including English and Filipino. There is also an
emphasis on language literature PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 57 in the
country and subjects are incorporated in the curricula, with effective communications
skills being the main focus in teaching literacy. Chapter Summary Consistent with the
growing amount of research in adult literacy from all over of the world, it is important to
understand that it is necessary to assist the adult learners with registering and attending
the literacy programs that he or she needs to enroll in order to not feel overwhelmed
with the process. More importantly, it is important to understand that adult individuals
with low literacy skills to expect reading difficulties and not forget to acknowledge that
they also have other strengths that have helped cope with the turmoil and
circumnavigate their struggles. In the shadow of my mother, educators are just
beginning to open their eyes to their inner strength and help them realize that they can
function in society but more importantly, having a supportive reading culture is the best
way to foster literacy for all ages. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 58
Conclusion Though efforts to reform the delivery of education services in the Philippines
are fostered through school based management, the fact still remains that overall
management of the education system follows the decentralization project. In spite of the
fact that management responsibilities in education reforms expanded to barrio schools
to city schools, the fact still remains that the Department of Education, the central office
of education located in Manila, is still in full control. However, despite the lack of a
formal mandate and pedagogy, there is somewhat a degree of devolution has already
taken place. It should be noted, nonetheless, that the power and authority sharing
trickling down to the school has been a competition for money. The Philippine’s public
school system remains as one of the systems that provides education to students. I
remain hopeful, that although the Philippine school system may not reach all students, it
will flourish and that education advocates will continue to improve and advance. These
findings indicate that the failure to learn what is required in order for the participants to
learn how to read and write is tagged at a very high price. Every non-reader adult in the
Philippines carries the emotional burden of being confined and trapped in an iron cage
of this intellectual linguistic handicap. Recognizing this truth and understanding the
discipline of adult literacy is an eye opener for all educators and researchers alike. For
me it is such a painful view of adult literacy in this study. I am in deep sadness and I
know this for a fact that it is not through any fault of their own that that non-reader adults
fall through the cracks. It is one of the ironies that the ability to read and write “texts”
fluently is evidence of a “literate self”. The anxieties that I have found in my research
study about this topic helped me to realize how fortunate I am. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN
THE PHILIPPINES 59 In my eyes, these anxieties are not for short term and they do not
fade away by blinking our eyes. I would like to reiterate that there is power in literacy. As
a reading and writing enthusiast I know that literacy is the baseline to improve and grow.
There is a lot to be done and I can say that in my country there is still a lack of good
reading programs that can go beyond teaching basic minimum literacy and actually
promote a love for books that could mean so much more. I wish there were a way for
me to change this. It would take planning and the implementation of programs that are
easy to access and enroll together with advertising through media. Perhaps one day I
can. My friends and country persons want to learn and are eager for these programs.
My short journey through this has been enlightening and I hope it will be as much for
you as it was for me. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES 60 References
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