P H I L I P P I N E EDUCATION TODAY

by PEDRO T. ORATA,Paris.

The Philippines consists of a group of more than 7,000 islands and islets,
which form the northernmost part of the Malay Archipelago. Of these
about 1,000 are sufficiently large and fertile to be inhabited. The Philip-
pines first came to the attention of Europeans in 1521, when Ferdinand
Magellan landed there and claimed the islands for Spain. When the
Spaniards first came to the Philippines, they found a people with a cultu-
re that was basically Indonesian and Malayan. Under Spanish influence
of nearly four hundred years, Latin civilization and Catholic Christianity
were introduced. The Americans, later, with their different cultural
background, placed special stress upon education and economic and
political development. From the Spaniards the Filipinos inherited their
dominant religion, which serves today as one of the strongest forces
binding them together as a people. From the United States came fifty
years of contact with the pragmatic philosophy of life which accounts for
the tremendous changes in the physical environment of the Filipino people.
The Filipinos now constitute a composite race, including not only
Malayans and Indonesians, who possess much the same racial traits and
innate psychology, but also some Chinese, Americans, Spaniards, and a
few other groups. Great diversity exists in languages and dialects spoken
in various parts of the Philippines. The total population was estimated
by the U.N. as being 20,246,000 in 1951, but latest unofficial figures would
raise it to more than 21 million. Since 1946, the Philippines has been an
independent Republic, with a President as the chief executive, a bicameral
legislature and an independent judiciary, a set-up which is very much like
that of the United States. There is a universal suffrage and absolute
equality between men and women. Freedom of speech, press, assembly
and religion is guaranteed and practised without fear or favour.
During the pre-Spanish period, the Filipinos had no organized system
of education, although there is evidence that they had a system of writ-
ing and that they composed songs and wrote poems. During the Spanish
regime the schools were few and far between and were generally operated
as private institutions, with religious indoctrination as their major ob-
jective. The United States set as its educational goal the preparation of
the masses for self-government and effective citizenship, which goal was
officially declared achieved on July 4, 1946 when the Philippines at-
tained its independence, and which since then has been maintained in an
effective manner.
160 PEDRO T. ORATA

Chronology o/ Main Educational Developments

Established by the Educational Act No. 74 of the Philippine Commissi-
on in 1901, the present educational system developed approximately
according to the following stages:
To z9~o: Period o[ Organization and Orientation. Public schools were
established with curricula of instruction based on the American pattern
and, in the main, with American books, and with English as the medium
of instruction. Religious instruction was prohibited in the classroom. The
object was to prepare the people for self-government, with strong initial
emphasis on training personnel for the government service.

z9zx-z925: Period o/ Adjustment to National Needs. The curriculum of

the elementary schools was revised to give it a practical bias. Thirty
million pesos ($15 million) were set aside for the development of the ele-
mentary school programme for a period of five years. Teacher training was
established on a firm footing. Textbooks were prepared based on and
adapted to needs and conditions of the Philippines.

z926-~935: Period o/ Evaluation and School Re/orm. The results of

twenty-five years of "educational experiment to prepare the people for
self-government" were assessed by the Monroe Educational Survey Com-
mission, an American group assisted by Filipino educators. The suggested
reforms became the subject of a great deal of discussion and made the
basis for further revision of the curriculum at all levels, and for the
streamlining of the educational system.

z936-I946: Period o/ Readjustment and Reorientation. I) With the es-

tablishment of the Commonwealth, a reorientation of educational plans
and policies was necessary to conform to the requirements of the new
Constitution of the Philippines which contained the following educational
provisions: "All educational institutions shall be under the supervision of
and subject to regulation by the State. The Government shall establish
and maintain a complete and adequate system of public education, and
shall provide at least free public primary instruction and citizenship
training to adult citizens. All schools shall aim to develop moral character,
personal discipline, civic conscience, vocational efficiency and to teach
the duties of citizenship". 2) Another reorientation took place during the
Japanese occupation, 1941-1945, when the school curriculum was com-