Based on the 2008 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), about 58 million out of the estimated 67 million Filipinos aged 10 to 64 years old (86.4%). This is a slight increase from 84.1 percent in 2003. Basic literacy, on the other hand was estimated at 95.6 percent. Literacy is much higher among those in the highest income stratum and who have completed high school or higher education. Some Filipinos who have little or no formal schooling, however, may have also gained functional literacy through alternative learning sources, such as the media.
Despite past efforts to increase access to formal basic education, the country continues to confront the challenge of ensuring greater participation of all school-aged children, especially in the elementary level. In school year (SY) 2009-2010, the Net Enrolment Rates (NER) at the elementary and secondary levels were 85.0 percent and 62.4 percent, respectively, which is far below the MDG and Education For All (EFA) targets. The cohort survival rate reached 74.4 percent for elementary and 78.5 percent for secondary in 2009, with completion rates recorded at 72.2 percent for elementary and 73.7 percent for secondary education
The elementary completion rate level was still far from the EFA target of 81.0 percent in 2015, but the secondary completion rate almost reached the 2015 EFA target of 75.27 percent. The drop-out rate, on the other hand, was still a high of 6.3 percent for the elementary level and 8.0 percent for high school, despite free provision of education at those levels. This was due to poverty, poor health, peace and order problems in some areas, and the prevalence of child labor.
The National Achievement Test (NAT) results for the elementary level showed a substantial improvement from a mean percentage score (MPS) of 58.7 in 2004 to 68.0 in 2009. In contrast, the NAT MPS in high school declined slightly from 46.8 to 45.6 during the same period.
A total of 76,710 new classrooms were constructed from 2004 to 2010, exceeding the yearly minimum target of 6,000. However, classroom gaps still persist due to the increasing student population and damages caused by natural disasters. Classroom shortage in 2011 is estimated at 113,000. Moreover, there were wide disparities in classroom-student ratios across regions, with a 1:78 ratio in elementary in NCR and 1:82 in high school in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in SY 2009-2010. The national average of teacher-student ratios in SY 2009-2010 stood at 1:36 for elementary and 1:38 for secondary levels, but wide disparities again existed across schools.
The number of barangays without access to elementary school was reduced significantly from 1,617 in 2001 to only 227 in 2008. Access also improved dure to more high school students benefitting from the Education Service Contracting scheme and the Education Voucher System. Of the 250,000 target beneficiaries for the period of 2004 to 2009, a total of 153,694 grantees (62%) benefited from these programs.
In line with the institutionalization of the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Law, 99 percent of provinces and all cities already implemented ECCD in varying degrees. However, the actual gross enrolment rate in public and private preschools for 4-5 years old reached only 24.69 percent in 2008, up from 19.23 percent in 2004. The Department of Education (DepEd), for its part, provided preschool education to around 1.4 million children. Over the same period, the percentage of Grade 1 pupils with ECCD experience improved from 55.98 percent to 64.62 percent.
There was a steady increase in the number of learners served by both the DepEd and various alternative learning system (ALS) providers. From 2005 to 2009, 631,914 and 418,108 enrollees were recorded under the DepEd-delivered and DepEd-procured ALS programs, respectively. However, only 74 percent of these enrollees completed the DepEd-delivered and 72 percent the DepEd-procured ALS programs. Despite its vast potential, the ALS has yet to maximize the full potential of nonschool-based learning schemes in universalizing functional literacy.
Table 8.1. Formal Basic Education Performance Indicators, by Sex: 2004-2009
Indicators | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
ELEMENTARY |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net Intake Rate in Grade 1 | 41.3 | 36.6 | 39.7 | 45.6 | 48.4 | 56.3 |
Male | 37.5 | 33 | 36.2 | 43.4 | 46.4 | 54.6 |
Female | 45.3 | 40.5 | 43.5 | 48.0 | 50.5 | 58.0 |
104.2 | 101.1 | 99.9 | 102 | 102.1 | 100.8 | |
Male | 104.9 | 101.9 | 100.7 | 102.9 | 103.3 | 102.1 |
Female | 103.5 | 100.3 | 99.0 | 101.1 | 100.8 | 99.5 |
Net Enrolment Ratio | 87.1 | 84.4 | 83.2 | 84.8 | 85.1 | 85 |
Male | 86.17 | 83.56 | 82.39 | 84.01 | 84.86 | 85.0 |
Female | 88.08 | 85.35 | 84.08 | 85.72 | 85.71 | 85.0 |
Cohort Survival Rate | 71.3 | 70 | 73.4 | 75.3 | 75.4 | 74.4 |
Male | 66.1 | 65.5 | 68.8 | 70.9 | 71.5 | 69.9 |
Female | 77.2 | 75.0 | 78.6 | 80.1 | 79.7 | 79.4 |
Completion Rate | 69.1 | 68.1 | 71.7 | 73.1 | 73.3 | 72.2 |
Male | 63.6 | 63.3 | 67.3 | 68.4 | 69.1 | 67.4 |
Female | 75.2 | 73.5 | 76.7 | 78.3 | 77.9 | 77.5 |
Dropout Rate (School Leaver) | 7 | 7.3 | 6.4 | 6 | 6 | 6.3 |
Male | 8.4 | 8.6 | 7.6 | 7.2 | 7.1 | 7.5 |
Female | 5.4 | 6 | 5 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
Achievement Rate (Grade 6 NAT MPS ) | 58.73 | 54.66 | 59.94 | 64.81 | 66.33 | 68.00 |
Male | 57.10 | 52.89 | 58.59 | 63.73 | 64.38 | 66.65 |
Female | 60.29 | 56.58 | 61.81 | 65.87 | 66.72 | 69.36 |
SECONDARY |
|
|
|
|
|
|
83.9 | 80.5 | 79.5 | 81.4 | 82.9 | 82.2 | |
Male | 80.2 | 77.0 | 76.4 | 78.7 | 80.6 | 80.2 |
Female | 87.8 | 84.1 | 82.6 | 84.2 | 85.3 | 84.1 |
Net Enrolment Ratio | 60 | 58.5 | 58.6 | 61.9 | 60.7 | 62.4 |
Male | 55.0 | 53.7 | 53.9 | 57.4 | 56.4 | 57.9 |
Female | 65.0 | 63.5 | 63.4 | 66.6 | 65.2 | 67.0 |
Cohort Survival Rate | 78.1 | 67.3 | 77.3 | 79.9 | 79.7 | 78.5 |
Male | 73.3 | 61.5 | 72.7 | 75.21 | 75.5 | 74.2 |
Female | 82.8 | 73.0 | 81.8 | 84.5 | 83.9 | 82.8 |
Completion Rate | 72.4 | 61.7 | 72.1 | 78.7 | 75.2 | 73.7 |
Male | 66.9 | 55.1 | 67.2 | 71.6 | 70.4 | 69.1 |
Female | 77.8 | 68.1 | 77.0 | 86.0 | 79.9 | 78.3 |
Dropout Rate (School Leaver) | 8 | 12.5 | 6.6 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 8.0 |
Male | 9.9 | 15 | 7.5 | 9.3 | 9.1 | 9.7 |
Female | 6.1 | 10.1 | 5.9 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 6.2 |
46.80 | 46.97 | 46.64 | 49.26 | 47.4 | 45.55 | |
Male | 45.83 | 45.44 | 44.81 | 47.84 | 44.89 | 43.95 |
Female | 47.61 | 48.31 | 48.29 | 50.45 | 48.32 | 46.98 |
Source: DepEd;
*Administered to 4th year students in 2004
In culture and the arts, the National Heritage Act (RA 10066) was enacted in 2009 to protect, preserve, conserve and promote the nation's cultural heritage, its property and histories, and the ethnicity of local communities; establish and strengthen cultural institutions; protect cultural workers and ensure their professional development and wellbeing. Moreover, more than 2,000 projects nationwide were approved to be funded by the National Endowment Fund for Culture and the Arts (NEFCA) from 2007 to 2010.
In sports, the Short-Term Philippine Sports Development Plan: 2008-2010 was formulated to carry out systemic institutional reforms that rationalized resource allocation. While the Plan was approved through Resolution No. 2, Series of 2008 by the NEDA-Social Development Committee, most of the envisioned institutional reforms have not been implemented due to changes in leadership.
Enrolment in middle-level human resource development via technical and vocational education and training (TVET) increased by 27.38 percent, from 1.68 million in 2004 to 2.14 million in 2007. However, it declined to 2 million in 2008 and 1.98 million in 2009, as a result of efforts to improve quality assurance. On the other hand, enrolment in higher education rose moderately from 2.40 million in 2004 to 2.62 million in 2009. The number of graduates across all disciplines likewise increased from 409,628 to around 469,654 in the same period, or by 14.65 percent.
Based on the 2008 Impact Evaluation Study (IES) commissioned by TESDA, the absorption rate12 of TVET graduates (as a percentage of the labor force) was 55.1 percent, which is less than the 2005 figure of 64.6 percent. The decline can be attributed, among others, to the effects of the global financial crisis that slowed down economic activities and resulted in job losses, skills mismatch between the requirements of the available jobs and the skills possessed by workers, and geographical mismatch between locations of job opening and job seekers.
Increased access to higher education and middle-level skills development was made possible through the provision of various scholarships and student financial assistance programs by CHED and TESDA, such as the Private Education Student Financial Assistance Program (PESFA), ADB-assisted Technical Education and Skills Development Program (TESDP), President Gloria Scholarship (PGS) Program and Ladderized Education Program (LEP).
The PGS, a scholarship program intended to provide interventions to meet the need for critical skills and drive TVET provision to highly in-demand jobs, reached more than one million scholars from 2006 to 2009. The program was provided an increased budget of PhP5.6 billion in 2009, in view of the government's commitment to job generation through skills enhancement and investment in human capital. However, the PGS had its own share of operational problems and drawbacks, ranging from increased dropout rate and low employment of graduates. There is a need to introduce reforms in the targeting and selection of beneficiaries, fund disbursement, accountability and program management.
Table 8.2. Enrolment in Tertiary Level of Education, by Sex: Academic Years 2004-2009
| Year | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
Male | 673,353 | 694,745 | 856,965 | 805,567 | 893,091 | ||
| Female | 1,010,029 | 1,042,120 | 1,315,449 | 1,208,353 | 1,091,555 | |
| Total Enrolees | 1,683,382 | 1,736,865 | 2,142,414 | 2,013,920 | 1,982,435 | |
| Graduates | 1,154,333 | 1,340,620 | 1,702,307 | 1,812,528 | 1,903,793 | |
| Academic year | 2004-2005 | 2005-2006 | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | |
Male | 1,100,199 | 1,130,360 | 1,194,701 | 1,211,108 | 1,199,247 | ||
| Female | 1,302,116 | 1,352,914 | 1,409,748 | 1,443,186 | 1,426,138 | |
| Total Enrolees | 2,402,315 | 2,483,274 | 2,604,449 | 2,654,294 | 2,625,385 | |
| Graduates | 409,628 | 421,444 | 444,427 | 444,815 | 469,654 | |
Another major accomplishment in the subsector is the institutionalization of the ladderized system between TVET and higher education through EO 358 in 2005. The LEP covered 1,330 ladderized education programs in eight priority disciplines (information technology, hotel and restaurant management and tourism, engineering, health, education, maritime, agriculture, and criminology). Complementing this is the DOST-SEI, which administered demand-oriented science and technology (S&T) scholarships through their Merit Scholarship and financial assistance programs. The latter supports the education of poor, talented and deserving students in the priority degree courses of basic and applied sciences, engineering and science teaching. In 2009, about 4,257 scholarship qualifiers nationwide were announced, thus increasing the number to a total of 11,428 scholars.
To ensure a competent workforce responsive to the quality standards of industries, the TVET subsector through TESDA implemented quality assurance measures through a mandatory assessment of TVET graduates in programs covered by the promulgated training regulations. The number of trainees who underwent competency assessment and certification peaked to 836,131 in 2009. Of these, a total of 690,836 workers were certified across all occupations, representing a certification rate of 82.62 percent.
According to the 2007 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS), the proportion of dropouts was worst at the tertiary level, or among the 16-24 age group, particularly in degree programs, at 65.8 percent. This was mainly due to the high cost of education that had to be fully shouldered by the households. Access to tertiary education for students from poor families was possible through publicly-funded scholarships and other student financial assistance programs.
The challenge for the tertiary education is not just broadening but rationalizing the access of the economically and socially-disadvantaged and potentially-restive population. The CHED recently rationalized and streamlined the guidelines of its student financial assistance programs (StuFAPs). However, these guidelines only subsumed CHED-administered StuFAPs, and do not substantially address major government-wide scholarship issues. Particularly, the efficacy, usefulness and viability of student loan programs have not improved remarkably through the years.
Significantly, the need to produce enough competent and skilled workforce that will match domestic needs has become much more compelling. Faced with the challenge of competitiveness and the diversifying industry needs, the government continuously instituted programs and provided the critical resources for skills upgrading and intensification in both high- and middle-level professions. Post-basic education funding has pointed to the need for students to be channeled to fields that have clear local demand, such as emerging and critical S&T fields.
The education and training sector remains confronted with the following issues and challenges: (a) limited participation of the industry sector in developing competency standards and curricula; (b) societal bias against TVET and insufficient social marketing, particularly among basic education students and their parents; (c) the need to upgrade the quality of higher education programs, including S&T courses, and make them internationally comparable; and (d) continuing job-skills mismatches, owing to low quality and relevance of education and training programs, alongside lower absorptive capacity of the economy.
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12 Absorption rate refers to the ratio of employed and the total number of TVET graduates.