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EDUCATION SYSTEMS OF THE PHILIPPINES AND JAPAN: A

COMPARATIVE STUDY

Lance Christian B. San Pedro

Kurt Aldrich B. Abarro

Christopher Gabriel M. Liao

Introduction

The Japanese education system was regarded as the longest, at 243, while the Philippines, has

200 days under the Basic Education Curriculum. The education systems of Japan and the

Philippines are different in terms of various aspects of education.

According to Johnson (1996), Japanese students spend 240 days on school, more than the 180

days of American students, at 60. Pawilen and Sumida (2005) noted that the goal of the science

curriculum of Philippines and Japan share the same concern in developing skills; however they

are different in terms of focus and emphasis. However, the aforementioned articles have not yet

brought their studies of comparing education systems in a broad manner. This includes the

academic subjects and the social, mental, and political issues in the respective curriculum.

This paper aims to do the following: compare the various aspects: school year length, school

grades, and the like of the Japanese and the Philippine education systems, and to scan for various

aspects of Japanese education system that the Philippines can learn from, and vice versa. The

elementary level (小学校 shōgakkō) until the middle school level (中学校 chūgakkō) for Japan

and the elementary to high school level for the Philippines are used as case studies for this

research.

Methodology

The aim of this research is to compare the Philippines and Japan’s education systems in a wider

extent: school grades, curriculum framework, and socio-economic issues, as well as scan for

positive aspects of Japanese education that the Philippines can learn from, and vice versa.

First, a brief history of Philippine and Japanese education was discussed. Next, the aspects of

education: primary language, academic subjects, school year length, and school grades, based on

factual details, were listed, explained, and discussed according to comparison. Third, the socio-

economic and mental issues of students under the two education systems were discussed as well.

Finally, positive aspects of the Japanese education system in which the Philippines can learn

from its present system were listed and discussed, and vice versa.

Qualitative (descriptive) and quantitative (statistical) data were used for this research.

Results and Discussion

To begin this part of the research paper, a brief history of the education of Philippines and Japan

are to be presented; then a definition of curriculum is stated, as well as stating a purpose for

creating a curriculum, followed by a discussion of ideologies of education of the two countries.

Next, a table of elementary and high school curricula of the basic education of Philippines and

Japan are to be presented, followed by explanations and discussions. Then, a comparison of the

framework of education is enumerated and discussed. Finally, various issues of the two systems:

academic, social, and the like, are to be explained and discussed, as well as comparisons in–

between.

History – Japan

During the feudal period, many private educational institutions already existed. These included

the terakoya (寺子屋), private temple schools, and special schools specialized for the samurai

class established by the daimyo (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1992). This implies that public

education in Japan never existed until the Meiji Restoration.

The Meiji Restoration brought Western ideals to Japanese education, as Encyclopedia Britannica

(1978) states that many of the points of the Japanese educational system were derived from the

European continental systems, notably the German system.

History – Philippines

Education in the Philippines was unstructured, informal, and devoid of methods before the

Spaniards arrived, instead making further emphasis on vocational education and less in academic

performance.

The colonization of the Spaniards brought a change to the unstructured education system, with a

transition from vocation-oriented education to religion-oriented education. However, education

was not for everyone, but rather for the elites; it was lifted when public education was introduced

by the Educational Decree of 1863.

Following the defeat of the Spaniards by the Americans, the education system was modified

under the Schurman Commission, and used English as the medium of instruction. In World War

II, emphasis on love for work was made by the Japanese occupants in the Philippines (Historical

Perspective of the Philippine Educational System, n.d.). This implies that the education of the

Philippines changed from time to time as colonizers changed, as well as changes in emphasis of

education.

The ideology of education

Education is a necessity of building a person’s character through developing one’s personality

uniquely, improving ability, independency, and pursuing a happy life; at the same time, it also

embarks on a mission to nurture the citizens who form the country and the society (MEXT, n.d.).

The Japanese treat education as very important, which is the reason why the country has the

highest literacy rates in the world (Grolier, 1990). In the case of Philippines, Filipinos have a

deep point of view of education, in which it is treated as the main street of further social and

economic mobility. This was materialized from the Americans due to their colonial rule, where

the ideal of democratic society in which individuals could get ahead through good educational

attainment (Country Studies, n.d.).

It can be inferred that Japan and the Philippines share the same point of view, in which education

is the road to further mobility of a country.

The core for the existence of society is education, and it is not an exaggeration to say that

Japan’s future depends on education itself, as the Ministry of Education of Japan says (n.d.). This

ideology of education is not for Japan alone, as it is also the core for Philippines and the other

countries.

Education has been looked into as the means of alleviating poverty, reducing crime, increasing

economic benefits, and ultimately upping the standard of living of the Filipino masses (Durban

& Catalan, 2012). This is somehow the same in the American ideal adopted by the Filipinos.

There are numerous definitions of curriculum, which can be confusing. In the wider route, the

term is used to refer all of the courses offered in a single school (WiseGeek, n.d.). The following

section lists down the curricula framework of Philippines and Japan.

Curriculum – Japan

What is the aim of organizing a curriculum? To attain the educational goals of local schools is

the target (Komatsu, 2002). This is not just the case of Japan’s schools only, but also for

Philippine schools.

The ministry of education, whose director is a member of the Prime Minister’s cabinet,

establishes the curricula of elementary, middle, and high schools (Ike, 1999)1. Table 1 shows the

elementary school curriculum of Japan, as stated by the Board of Education of Tokyo’s Shinjuku

Ward2.

Table 1. Elementary school curriculum of Japan.

Social studies begins in the third grade. Life studies is from grades 1 and 2, and changed into

Science from grade 3 onwards. Home economics classes begin on the fifth grade, and is

integrated into technology classes on middle school. Integrated studies (IS) begins on the third