The document discusses trends in education in the Philippines, including higher education reforms, vocational training programs, and technology adoption. It notes that the government budget for education was increased in 2014 to support the K-12 program. Higher education institutions are working to address unemployment through programs transforming agricultural colleges and quality control measures. Vocational training through TESDA is promoted as more practical and affordable than university. TESDA also partners with other countries to share best practices in technical education.

1. Trends, Issues, Challenges and
Concerns of Philippine Education
in the Third Millennium

2. The Department of Education receives the 2014
lion’s share of the national budget, with PHP 336.9
billion (over US $7.7 billion) which is 14% more
than the amount allocated in 2013. Most of this new
funds will work to stimulate and develop the K-12
program.
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3. Higher Education Adjustments
Higher education institutions (HEIs) and the
Philippines government are doing what they can to
create solutions to the unemployment problem.
Two examples include:
• reforms transforming agri-colleges into state
universities to provide more opportunities to
disadvantaged students;
• quality control by the Commission on Higher
Education (CHED) shutting down programmes that
aren’t up to standard.
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4. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is
doing its part by launching a ‘My First Job’
facilitation programme which will provide skills
training to the tune of US $5.6 million. Funding for
the programme was provided by the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) and the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA) in the
hopes that it helps “Filipino youth find jobs at much
faster rate and encourages more foreign investors to
put up business in the country.”
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5.  Higher education institutes are responding too.
Some are offering programmes which they believe
will give students the skills they need to find work.
Business World Online reported that of the nearly
2,300 highered institutes in the Philippines, 1,259 of
them were offering business degrees in 2012.
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6.  A higher education summit took place in early 2013
between business executives and university
administrators, and the outcome was a list of
recommendations for HEIs, one of which was the
“identification of competencies that will be expected
from graduates of higher education institutions in
four courses: business management, information
technology, electronics engineering, tourism and
hotel/restaurant management.”
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7.  These four subjects were chosen because they are the
“academic areas producing the workforce for…
industries important to the economy’s continued
growth… Their improved relevance to industry,
resulting from their redesign, would only mean
greater employability for their graduates and a
stronger workforce for associated industries.”
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8.  Education authorities in the Philippines are also
embracing technology.
-In June the Manila Bulletin reported that the
University of the Philippines system has joined forces
with Google to provide Google Apps for Education
on campuses across the country. This means that over
70,000 students, faculty, staff and alumni of the
University of the Philippines will have access to
email, more memory and a file sharing space.
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9.  Google Apps for Education is popular there; the
universities are not the only ones using it: “The
Commission of Higher Education (CHED) and the
Department of Education (DepEd) have already
adopted the system last year, and the Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA) adopted it earlier this year, effectively
making the entire education department of the
Philippines users of the Google suite of apps.”
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10.  The University of the Philippines also recently made tech
headlines when the Open University, an autonomous unit
within UP, partnered with The Australian Agency for
International Development (AusAID) to “study of
effective use of tablet computers for public school
students.” Students in nine schools around the capital
have been given 1,000 tablets to use in their classrooms,
and the aim of the study, which is being funded in the
region of PHP 24 million (nearly US $500,000), is “to
understand how digital devices can complement
traditional ways of pedagogy and learning.”
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11. Vocational education reacts
In response to the youth unemployment rate and
the desire for students to learn employable skills, the
TESDA has been actively promoting its schools and
learning centres as the more practical option to high
school students. TESDA Director General Joel
Villanueva said: “I know the idea of a college or
university education is always appealing. But TVET
is more affordable, hands-on, and the path to a good
job is shorter.”
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12. TESDA supports a number of TVET centres across the
Philippines, all of which train students in vocations that
are vital to the country’s growing economy.
For example:
• The Auto Mechanic Training Center in Tacloban,
Leyte is funded by Isuzu Motors Limited of Japan
and has seen 117 graduates since the centre opened in
2008, most of whom are now working for Isuzu
Philippines.
• Carpentry training courses are proving popular:
“Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz recently
announced that a study showed that the high demand
for carpenters is expected to continue in the next five
to ten years.”
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13.  A similar but different response to TESDA training
centres is the ‘boutique’ college. A private hospitality
management school called Enderun Colleges is
growing in popularity and expanding the number of
courses it offers. President Javier Infante explained,
“Just like big hotels and boutique hotels, we are a
boutique management school. It’s smaller, it’s new
and a different approach.” Enderun has partnered
with a number of schools and colleges in Europe, the
US and other parts of Asia to send its students on a
semester abroad.
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14. TVET goes international
A number of countries have partnered with TESDA
either to receive its expertise or to train its experts.
Projects like those listed below are there for the
taking for any overseas providers wishing to
develop their international influence in technical
and vocational education.
 In July 2012, Bangladesh sent 22 vocational
education teachers and supervisors to the Philippines
to study the technical education and training system.
This was the third such group, the first two having
visited in 2010 and 2011.
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15.  Two teams of officials from various Indian and
Bangladesh ministries spent time studying TVET
best practices in January of last year, hoping to take
away ideas with them to adopt in their own
countries. Secretary Joel Villanueva, Director
General TESDA said, “We hope we can be a good
role model to countries in pursuing the TVET
track.”
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16.  TESDA schools and centres are creating graduates
with employable skills which will contribute to the
thriving economy. As Director General Villanueva
has said,“TVET could just offer the best chance at a
solid career to graduates, and the savior against the
rising unemployment.”
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17. Education in the Philippines, from primary to secondary
to tertiary and beyond, is evolving and responding as
the country develops and grows. The nation’s
government wants education at all levels to provide its
citizens with knowledge and skills to keep it
progressing long into the next century.
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18. The Philippine Midterm Progress Report on the 2007
MDGs noted that the country is lagging behind its
targets of achieving access to primary education.
Millions of children remain deprived of educational
opportunities, many of them because of poverty.
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19.  The UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report
2009 that children in the poorest 20% of the
population receive five years less education than
children from the wealthiest families. Poverty
compels school children to engage in income
generating activities, resulting in frequent non-
attendance in school and subsequent dropping out.
Official figures put the number of working children
between the ages 5-17 at 4 million, with 70% of them
from the rural areas (2000-2001 National Survey of
Children). Of the 4 million, about 30% are not
attending school.
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20.  The prevalence of malnutrition among children 0-5
years old in 2005 is 25% percent (2008 Draft
Common Country Assessment Philippines). It is sad
to note that the malnourished are more prone to repeat
grade levels and drop out or achieve less in school.
 The World Bank (WB) (2006) reported that the
Philippines ranked nearly last in student performance
on mathematics and science tests compared to the rest
of the East Asia region. Also, more that 90% of
elementary graduates failed the High School
Readiness Test, which assessed mastery of basic
competencies in the elementary curriculum.
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21.  Tertiary education is generally of low quality, as
evidenced by:
(1) low passing percentage in professional licensure
examinations conducted by the Professional
Regulation Commission (PRC);
(2) incompatibility of graduates’credentials with
desired competencies for the workplace or for
entrepreneurship, and
(3) lack of ability of graduates to be gainfully
employed, with only 20 percent of college graduates
readily finding employment (Syjuco, 2006).
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23. Ref.
http://monitor.icef.com/2013/08/philippine
higher-and-vocational-education-revamped-for
21st-century-demands/
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001852/1
85237e.pdf