section_path: Demographics/Education
section_name: Education
paragraph_text: Education
  
  Primary and secondary schooling in the Philippines consists of six years of elementary period, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school. Public education, provided by the government, is free at the elementary and secondary levels and at most public higher-education institutions. Science high schools for talented students were established in 1963. The government provides technical-vocational training and development through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. In 2004, the government began offering alternative education to out-of-school children, youth, and adults to improve literacy; madaris were mainstreamed in 16 regions that year, primarily in Mindanao Muslim areas under the Department of Education. Catholic schools, which number more than 1,500, and higher education institutions are an integral part of the educational system.
  
  The Philippines has 1,975 higher education institutions as of 2019, of which 246 are public and 1,729 are private. Public universities are non-sectarian, and are primarily classified as state-administered or local government-funded. The national university is the eight-school University of the Philippines (UP) system. The country's top-ranked universities are the University of the Philippines Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, and University of Santo Tomas.
  
  In 2019, the Philippines had a basic literacy rate of 93.8 percent of those five years old or older, and a functional literacy rate of 91.6 percent of those aged 10 to 64. Education, a significant proportion of the national budget, was allocated ₱900.9 billion from the ₱5.268 trillion 2023 budget. As of 2023, the country has 1,640 public libraries affiliated with the National Library of the Philippines.