Philippines Education Policy Notes

For decades, the Philippines could boast of being one of the most highly educated developing countries. Its enrollment rates at all levels of education were higher than those of other countries with comparable, or even higher, income levels. But no longer. Any edge that the Philippines might have had in its human capital has eroded as more developing countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, as cases in point – have achieved higher enrollment rates even at the secondary level (figure 1). In addition, a large number of children who enter school do not reach the last grade in the cycle—about 30 percent of those who enter grade 1 and about 25 percent of those who enter first year high school. And since transition rates from elementary to high school are still low, the rate of high school completion for children who enter grade 1 is less than 50 percent. Figure 1. Net enrollment rates at the primary and secondary education levels illustrate differences within East Asia, 2000