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As a result of the American emphasis on public education, the Philippines inherited has a substantial functioning public education system at the time of independence following World War II. This was a a rarity in the Third World. The only other non-Western public school systems were in Japan and the the liberated Japanese colonies (Korea and Taiwan). Britain helped provide India with the rudiments of public school system, but only was educating a small fraction of the school-age population. The Philippines in contrast had a fully functioning public school system. There was a serous issue--language. No one knows just how many languages there are in the Philippines, some estimates approach 200. There are about 20 important languages. About half of the country are native Tagalog or Cebuno/Biscaya speakers. The rest of the country speak languages of varying importance. So an early issue to be addressed by Filipino educators was the language of instruction. One regional superintendent conducted what is known as the Iloilo Experiment, using the vernacular language, meaning the local language. This was eventually seen as a mistake primarily because it was seen as decisive. According to one Filipino educator, "... the vernacular instruction was not producing maximum results. It was curtailing full instructional benefit. Instead of narrowing the regional gaps of the country, it was widening it and was producing dangerous trends towards regional and cultural imbalance." The solution was developing a Filipino language as mandated by the Constitution. Here the Philippines has chosen Taglog as a base language even though only about a quarter of the country speaks Tagalog and there are roughly the same number of Cebuno/Biscaya speakers. English is commonly taught as a second language. Formal education typically spans 14 years and is structured in a 6+4+4 system: 6 years of primary school education, 4 years of secondary school education, and 4 years of higher education, leading to a bachelor’s degree. This is shorter than most countries and in recent years has been extended by adding 2 more years of secondary schooling. to . English was the language of instruction in the Philippines during the American era. The new Constitution prescribed that both Filipino Tagalog) and English are the official language of instruction and communication. After primary school where vernacular languages are commonly used, the language of instruction is almost always English, especially in the country’s urban areas and at most of the nation's universities. There is an extensive pre-school system. The country has over 3,600 primary schools nearly 1,000 secondary schools. There sere 950,000 primary and 500,000 secondary students, meaning only about half of th children continue on to secondary school. Private schools educate a small portion of primary school children, but about 10 percent of secondary children. [Philippine Statistics Authority]
Philippine Statistics Authority. (2016-17 data)]
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