Education

The Philippine educational system is parallel to that of the United States, with English as the medium of instruction. Schools are classified into public or government schools and private schools. There are also International schools, Preparatory schools and Science High schools. The general pattern of Formal education follows four stages: Pre-primary (nursery to kindergarten); six years of Primary or Elementary education ; Secondary education for 4 years; and the Tertiary education usually takes 4-5 years except in some cases as in law school or medical school which last for 8-10 years. Graduate study is an additional 2 or more years. In 2003, the literacy rate of the Philippines reached 92.6% of the total population. In school year 1999-2000 of the compulsory primary level, 12.6 million were enrolled with 7.1 % in private sector while in Secondary level of the same school year there was an overall total of 5.1 million students with 24% in private schools. In order to improve the quality of education in the country, particularly at the elementary and secondary levels the government allocate a sum of Php 145 billion for 2008.