Primary and secondary education

As of 2012, primary and secondary education have been reformed through the 'K to 12 Basic Education Program' (K to 12). The ‘K’ in K to 12 stands for kindergarten and the ‘12’ stands for 12 years of education (grades 1-12). The reforms were implemented in phases. As of 2012, education is compulsory starting from kindergarten. Via K to 12, secondary education has also been expanded with 2 years of upper secondary education. Upper secondary education has been compulsory since 2016.

Primary education

Primary education lasts 7 years. Pupils aged 5 to 12 complete the following 3 phases:

• kindergarten;
• lower primary education (grades 1-3);
• upper primary education (grades 4-6).

Lower and upper primary education are collectively called elementary education.

Secondary education

As of the introduction of K to 12, secondary education lasts 2 years longer. It now consists of 2 phases:

• lower secondary education (Junior High School, JHS), concluded with exams for a Junior High School Diploma;
• upper secondary education (Senior High School, SHS), concluded with exams for a Grade 12/Senior High School Diploma.

Secondary education before K to 12

Before the start of K to 12 in 2012, secondary education lasted 4 years, so 2 years shorter than now. Upper secondary education did not exist. At the end of secondary education, students took exams for a High School Diploma (katibayan/katunayan).

Students complete lower secondary education by taking exams for the Junior High School Diploma. Because K to 12 started in 2012, the Junior High School Diploma was first awarded in 2016.

• Duration i : 4 years (grades 7-10).
• Content: students take the following subjects:
  • mother tongue
  • Filipino
  • English
  • mathematics
  • science
  • social sciences (araling panlipunan)
  • personnel training (Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao, EsP)
  • music
  • arts
  • physical education
  • health, home and life education (Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan, EPP)
  • technology and livelihood education (TLE)
• Function of the diploma: access to upper secondary education (Grade 12/Senior High School Diploma).
• Diploma: Junior High School Diploma.

Students complete upper secondary education diploma (Senior High School, SHS) with exams for a Grade 12/Senior High School Diploma. Senior high school was introduced through the K to 12 reforms in 2016. The Grade 12/Senior High School Diploma was therefore first awarded in 2018.

• Duration: 2 years (grades 11-12).
• Content: general subjects (core curriculum), electives and track subjects. Students first choose 1 out of 4 tracks. Each track has various strands. Students choose a strand within their track. The 4 tracks are:
  • academic track with the strands Accounting, Business and Management (ABM), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), General Academic Strand (GAS) and Pre-Baccalaureate Maritime (PBM);
  • arts and design track;
  • sports track; or
  • Technical-Vocational-Livelihood track (TVL).
• Admission requirements: a Junior High School Diploma.
• Purpose of the diploma: access to higher education and secondary vocational education.
• Diploma: Grade 12/Senior High School Diploma.

The High School Diploma (katibayan/katunayan) was last awarded in 2015. These are the diplomas of students who started secondary education in 2011. They still followed the old secondary education system, because K to 12 started the following year (2012). The old and new secondary education systems therefore existed side by side for a while.

• Duration: 4 years.
• Content: largely the same subjects as in the current lower secondary education (Junior High School).
• Diploma: High School Diploma (katibayan/katunayan).