1. Historical
Foundations of
Philippine
Education
Prepared by:
Labog, Michael John R.
II-21 BSE Social Science

2. Development of
Education in the
Philippines from
Pre-Spanish to
Present times

3. Timeline
Before 1521 Education before the coming of Spaniards
1521-1896 Education during the Spanish Regime
1896-1899 Education during the Philippine Revolution
1898-1935 Education during the American Occupation
1935-1941 Education during the Philippine
Commonwealth
1941-1944 Education during the Japanese
Occupation
1944-1946 Education after the World War II
1946-present Education under the Philippine Republic

4. Pre- Hispanic Education
• Pre- Hispanic education in the
Philippines was not formal
•Education was oral, practical, and
hands-on
•The objective was basically to promote
reverence for, and adoration of Bathala,
respect for laws, customs, and
authorities represented by parents and
elders
•When the Spaniards arrived in the
Philippines they encountered islanders
who knew how to read and write.

5. Education during the Spanish
Regime
•The Friars established parochial
schools linked with churches to teach
catechism to the natives
•Instruction was in the dialect
•Education was managed, supervised,
and controlled and the friars
•Education in the country was not
uniform
•The system of schooling was not
hierarchical nor structured, thus there
were no grade levels

6. Major Problems
•Lack of trained teachers
•Lack of teachers
(150 teacher-missionaries to instruct over half a
million inhabitants)
• Lack of funds, instructional materials, and in many
instances school houses

7. Because of need, higher level
schools were established much later
by virtue of royal decrees.
•Colegios
•Beaterios

8. Subjects: Based on the Royal Decree of
1863
•Languages(Latin, Spanish grammar and literature,
elementary Greek, French and English)
•History( Universal, Spanish)
•Mathematics(Arithmetic, Algebra, Trigonometry,
Geometry)
•Philosophy(Rhethoric, Logic, Ethics)
•Geography
•Pshychology

9. Philippine Revolution
•Illustrados spearheaded the
Propaganda Movemnent
•Curricular reforms
1. Secularization of education
2. Instruction of Spanish
3. Greater attention to natural science
4. The design of a relevant curriculum
5. Improvement of higher centers of
learning
6. Improvement of educational system

10. • Jose Rizal criticized unequivocally the friars’
method of instruction in his two novels Noli
Me Tangere and El filibusterismo
1. Disproportionate focus on religion
2. Discourage the attempt of Filipino students
to speak in Spanish
3. Lack of pedagogical skills
4. Irrelevant courses in the curriculum

11. Curriculum
To improve the existing curriculum, Rizal considered the
ff. Subjects as required courses in secondary schools
•Science
•Math
•History
•Philosophy
•Law
•Language
•P.E
•Religion
•Music
•Social Sciences

12. Graciano- Lopez Jaena
“The outstanding cause of the distressed situation of
Filipinos today is the anomalous education received
by the youth in schools. They learn to read correctly
and write gracefully, but they do not learn anything
useful because they are not taught any. They are
taught how to pray and never go to work”

13. American Occupation
•The Americans used education as a vehicle
for its program benevolent asimilation
•American soldiers were the first teachers
•Restore damaged school houses, build
new ones and conduct classes
•Trained teachers replaced soldiers
•Filipinos warmly received their new
teachers, Thomasites
•American teachers infused their students
the spirit of democracy and progress as
well as fair play

14. TAKE NOTE!
• It is not surprising that the democratic values
espoused by the Americans, whether SINCERE
or NOT, touched a receptive nerve un the
Filipino psyche.

15. •Americans discarded the religious bias
•Educational Act of 1901- Separation of Church and
State in education
•Encourage filipino in the field of teaching
•Outstanding filipino scholars were sent to US to train
as teachers

16. Curriculum
Primary Education
•GMRC
•Civics
•Hygiene and Sanitation
•Geography
Intermediate Curriculum
•Grammar and composition
•Reading, spelling
•Science courses
•Physiology
•Hygiene and sanitation
•Intensive teaching of geography

17. •Government established NORMAL SCHOOL for future
teachers
•Courses include
Methods of teaching, practice teaching, psychology,
mathematics, language, science, history and
government, social sciences, P.E
•White collar-job bias

18. Philippine Commonwealth
•All schools should develop moral character, personal
discipline, civic conscience and vocational efficiency
•Promote effective participation of the citizens in the
processes of a democratic society
•Educational Act of 1940
“meet the increasing demand for public instruction
and at the same time comply with the constitutional
mandate on public education”

19. Japanese Regime
•6 basic principles of japanese Education
1. Realization of NEW ORDER and promote friendly
relations between Japan and the Philippines to the
farthest extent
2. Foster a new Filipino culture based
3. Endeavor to elevate the morals of people, giving
up over emphasis of materialism
4. Diffusion of the Japanese language in the
philippines
5. Promotion of VOCATIONAL course
6. To inspire people with the spirit to love neighbor

20. Curriculum
•School calendar became longer
•No summer vacation for students
•Class size increased to 60
•Deleted anti-asian opinions, banned the singing of
american songs, deleted american symbols, poems
and pictures
•Nihongo as a means of introducing and cultivvating
love for Japanese culture
•Social Studies

21. Take Note!
Spanish- Reign for 300 years
American- 50 years
Japanese- about four years
•It is thus not surprising that despite the measure
they had instituted, the Japanese failed to succeed in
transforming the values and attitudes of the people in
line with their vision of the NEW ORDER.
•A contributory factor was widely reported brutalities
that ushered in the Japanese occupation that the
filipinos did not experience with the same degree
during the American period

22. After World War II
In 1947, by the virtue of Executive Order No. 94, the
Department of Instruction was changed to
"Department of Education." During this period, the
regulation and supervision of public and private
schools belonged to the Bureau of Public and Private
Schools.

23. Education after 1940
• The objective of the Philippine Education was to
established “integrated, nationalistic, and
democracy- inspired educational system”
included the ff.
1. Inculcate moral and spiritual values inspired by
an abiding faith in God
2. To develop an enlighten, patriotic, useful and
upright citizenry in a democratic society
3. Conservation of the national resources
4. Perpetuation of our desirable values
5. Promote the science, arts and letters

24. •Great experiments in the community school and the use
of vernacular in the first two grades of the primary
schools as the medium of instruction were some of
them.
•An experiment worth mentioning that led to a change in
the Philippine Educational Philosophy was that of school
and community collaboration pioneered by Jose V.
Aguilar.
Schools are increasingly using instructional materials that
are Philippine-oriented.
Memorandum No. 30, 1966 sets the order of priority in
the purchase of books for use in the schools were as
follows:
Books which are contributions to Phil. Literature
Books on character education and other library materials
Library equipment and permanent features

25. Martial Law period
• The Department of Education became the
Department of Education and Culture in 1972,
the Ministry of Education and Culture in 1978,
and with the Education Act of 1982, the
Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports.
• A bilingual education scheme was established
in 1974, requiring Filipino and English to be
used in schools.
• Science and math subjects as well as English
language and literature classes were taught in
English while the rest were taught in Filipino.

26. From 1986 to the present
• The bilingual policy in education was reiterated in
the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines.
• (EDCOM), Congress passed Republic Act 7722 and
Republic Act 7796 in 1994, creating
theCommission on Higher Education (CHED) and
the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA). The institute governing basic
education was thus renamed in 2001 as
the Department of Education (DepEd).

27. • The quality of public school education is generally
considered to have declined since the post-war
years, mainly due to insufficient funds. The
Department of Education aims to address the
major problems affecting public education by
2010.
• Private schools are able to offer better facilities
and education, but are also much more
expensive. There is a wide variety of private
schools, including all-boys’ and all-girls’ schools,
religious schools, non-sectarian schools, Chinese
schools, special schools, and international
schools. Due to economic difficulties, there has
been a recent increase in the popularity of home
schooling and open universities in the Philippines.

28. Reference
•http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.ph
p?title=Education_in_the_Philippines
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educati
on_in_the_Philippines
•THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
(PHILIPPINE CONTEXT) by PROF. RONNIE
ESPERGAL PASIGUI

29. Thank You
for
Listening! 