Education: the Philippines

Education systems vary greatly from country to country, and sometimes from community to community within the same country.

In the Philippines, the school year begins in June. If you are going to request information on fees to send an SNG, it is recommended to do so in late March or early April. CI requests that tuition and funds be paid the month before school starts, so they have time to transfer the funds and and the staff has time to contact the family and get everything in place for the child to be enrolled. This is especially important if the child has never attended school before, has been out of school for a year or more, or is starting a new educational chapter (college, vocational, etc.).

Children in the Philippines begin school at age five. The Philippine education system is still in a transition phase from a ten-year program to a twelve-year program. The age and current grade of your sponsored child will determine which program they follow (at this stage in the transition, all but the oldest children will be part of the twelve-year program).

The twelve-year program is broken down into three stages, all compulsory. Elementary school begins with kindergarten and continues until sixth grade; Junior High is grades seven through ten, and Senior High is grades eleven and twelve.

There are other types of schools in the Philippines such as private schools, preparatory schools, international schools, laboratory high schools, and science high schools. Several foreign ethnic groups--including Chinese, British, American, Korean, and Japanese--also operate their own schools.

Beyond high school, tertiary education is available in the Philippines in the forms of Colleges and Universities, both public and private. Colleges are tertiary institutions that typically offer one or a few specialized courses. Universities offer a broader range of courses.