I.

Education System during the Spanish Colonization Era

In the Philippines, free access to modern public education was made possible through the
enactment of the Spanish Education Decree of December 20, 1863, by Queen Isabella II.
Primary instruction was made free and the teaching of Spanish was compulsory. This was ten
years before Japan had a compulsory form of free modern public education and forty years
before the American government started an English-based public school system in the
Philippines.

The royal decree provided for a complete educational system consisting of primary,
secondary, and tertiary levels, resulting in valuable training for all Filipino children and youth.
The Education Decree of 1863 provided for the establishment of at least two free primary
schools, one for boys and another for girls, in each town under the responsibility of the municipal
government. It also commended the creation of a free public normal school to train men as
teachers, supervised by the Jesuits. One of these schools was the Escuela Normal Elemental,
which, in 1896 became the Escuela Normal Superior de Maestros de Manila (The Normal
School) for male teachers. The Spanish government also established a school for midwives in
1879, and a Normal School for female teachers in 1892, the Escuela Normal Superior de
Maestras. By the 1890s, free public secondary schools were opening outside of Manila, including
10 normal schools for women. The range of subjects being taught was very advanced, as can be
seen from the Syllabus of Education in the Municipal Atheneum of Manila, which included
Algebra, Agriculture, Arithmetic, Chemistry, Commerce, English, French, Geography,
Geometry, Greek, History, Latin, Mechanics, Natural History, Painting, philosophy, Physics,
Rhetoric and poetry, Spanish Classics, Spanish Composition, Topography, and Trigonometry.
Among the subjects being taught to girls, as reflected in the curriculum of the Colegio de Santa
Isabel, were Arithmetic, Drawing, Dress-cutting, French, Geology, Geography, Geometry,
History of Spain, Music, Needlework, Philippine History, Physics, Reading, Sacred History and
Spanish Grammar. Contrary to what the Propaganda of the Spanish–American War tried to
depict, the Spanish public system of education was open to all the natives, regardless of race,
gender, or financial resources. The Black Legend propagation, black propaganda, and yellow
journalism were rampant in the last two decades of the Spanish Colonial Period. Rizal always
considered education as medicine or something that could cure the problems of the Colonial
Philippines.

II. Influence of the Education System to Rizal

He believed in education that is free from political and religious control. He asserted that
reform cannot be achieved if there is no suitable education, a liberal one available to Filipinos.
Jose Rizal’s first teacher was his mother, who had taught him how to read and pray and who had
encouraged him to write poetry. Later, private tutors taught the young Rizal Spanish and Latin,
before he was sent to a private school in Biñan.

When he was 11 years old, Rizal entered the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. He earned
excellent marks in subjects like philosophy, physics, chemistry, and natural history. At this
school, he read novels; wrote prize-winning poetry (and even a melodrama—“Junto al Pasig”);
and practiced drawing, painting, and clay modeling, all of which remained lifelong interests for
him.

Rizal eventually earned a land surveyor’s and assessor’s degree from the Ateneo
Municipal while taking up Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas. Upon
learning that his mother was going blind, Rizal opted to study ophthalmology at the UST Faculty
of Medicine and Surgery. He, however, was not able to complete the course because “he became
politically isolated by adversaries among the faculty and clergy who demanded that he assimilate
to their system.”

Without the knowledge of his parents, Rizal traveled to Europe in May 1882. According
to his biographer, Austin Craig, Rizal, “in order to obtain a better education, had had to leave his
country stealthily like a fugitive from justice, and his family, to save themselves from
persecution, were compelled to profess ignorance of his plans and movements. His name was
entered in Santo Tomas at the opening of the new term, with the fees paid, and Paciano had gone
to Manila pretending to be looking for this brother whom he had assisted out of the country.”

Rizal earned a Licentiate in Medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid, where he

Rizal is said to have had the ability to master various skills, subjects, and languages. Our
national hero was also a doctor, farmer, naturalist (he discovered the Draco rizali, a small lizard;
Apogania rizali, a beetle; and the Rhacophorus Rizal, a frog), writer, visual artist, athlete (martial
arts, fencing, and pistol shooting), musician, and social scientist.

III. Difference on the Education System (Spanish Era vs Modern Day Philippines)

When the Spaniards came to the Philippine Islands in 1521, they were surprised to
discover that the native population had high literacy, that is, they knew how to read and write
using a 17-symbol alphabet called the Baybayin script. Education though was not formal, and it
was mainly focused on teaching practical knowledge as well as the worship of Bathala (local
deity) and the respect of laws and customs

With the onset of Spanish colonization in 1565, Spanish friars and missionaries arrived.
Across the islands, the colonies that were built always included a church and a school. The
priests were the first teachers, and they educated the natives in order to convert them into
Catholicism. Thus, the formal education introduced by the Spanish colonizers was mainly
religion-based and controlled by the Roman Catholic Church. During this period, the oldest
universities, colleges and vocational schools founded in Asia were created by Catholic
missionary/religious orders. The first religious order to arrive, the Augustinians, founded the first
school in Cebu in 1565. This was followed by the Franciscans in 1577, Jesuits in 1581, and
Dominicans in 1587. In 1590, the Jesuits established Colegio de Manila, later renamed
Universidad de San Ignacio in 1621. The oldest, existing university in the Philippines and in
Asia, the University of Santo Tomas, was founded by the Dominicans on 28 April 1611.

Spanish education centered on religion. Aside from catechism', the friars taught Latin and
Spanish grammar (languages used in religious ceremonies). In essence, the Spanish educational
system was meant to keep the natives faithful, in order to keep the Church's authority over the
lives of the Indios (colonized Filipinos). This system continued until the introduction of the
modern public education system in 1863. The implementation of this Royal Decree made the
Philippines the first country in Asia which had a free and compulsory form of modern education,
10 years before the implementation in Japan. In the Philippines, a thirteen-year education is
mandatory by law. These thirteen years run from kindergarten up to grade 12, also known as the
K-12 program. After which, students have the option of whether to pursue higher education or
not. Education in the Philippines is offered through formal and non-formal systems. Formal
education typically spans 14 years and is structured in a 6+4+4 system: 6 years of primary school
education, 4 years of secondary school education, and 4 years of higher education, leading to a
bachelor's degree. It also provided for a complete and structured educational system, with
primary education leading to secondary and tertiary education. Subjects taught included non-
religious courses such as mathematics, history, geography, philosophy, and psychology, among
others. Finally, after 300 years under Spanish rule, the reformed educational system gave
Filipinos the opportunity to pursue higher learning, study liberal western ideas and develop
valuable leadership skills. This gave birth to a select group of enlightened individuals who call
themselves lustrados The Ilustrados played a major role in the Philippine revolution against
Spain Prominent Ilustrados were Graciano Lopez Jaena, Mariano Ponce, Marcelo H. del Pilar,
Antonio Luna, and the Philippine National Hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_Philippines_during_Spanish_rule

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
280610684_Philippine_Colonial_Education_System/link/55be498808aec0e5f445deab/download

https://madhavuniversity.edu.in/reference-to-indian-education-system.html