title: Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle

text: On 19 October 2007 during a fire-fight between a Dutch patrol and Taliban insurgents, a Bushmaster was hit by an improvised bomb. Although none of the passengers were hurt, the bomb damaged the front of the Bushmaster. The Bushmaster was sent to Multi National Base Tarin Kot (Kamp Holland) (the Dutch base) for repairs.


title: Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle

text: The Netherlands ordered additional Bushmasters on several occasions in 2007 and 2008. On 20 November 2007 the Dutch Defence Ministry announced that it would acquire an additional 10 vehicles to replace the two damaged and two destroyed vehicles and a Patria armoured vehicle which was also destroyed in Uruzgan. One vehicle would be sent to the Netherlands for training purposes, and the rest go directly to Afghanistan. The Dutch ordered a further 13 Bushmasters in June 2008, taking their total order to 49 vehicles. At this time six Dutch Bushmasters had been destroyed in Afghanistan.


title: Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle

text: In January 2009, another batch of nine vehicles was ordered, these vehicles to be fitted with cameras, sensors and an interrogation arm to find and destroy improvised explosive devices (IEDs). A further 14 Bushmasters were ordered in June 2009. In August 2009, another 14 vehicles were ordered, bringing the total Dutch order to 86. Dutch special forces deployed as part of the Northern Mali conflict from April 2014 were equipped with a number of Bushmasters. May 2015 a Dutch Bushmaster was struck by an IED near Kidal. No one was hurt by this incident and the Bushmaster was returned to the Dutch camp at Gao. In June 2015, a further 12 were ordered. In July 2020 the Dutch Army took delivery of its first Multirole Electronic Warfare Bushmaster.


title: Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle

text: The British Army acquired 24 Bushmasters in April 2008 specifically for use in Iraq to support Task Force Black and United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) operations around Basra. The heavily modified vehicles, known as the "Escapade", were used to provide armoured transport for strike teams.


title: Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle

text: Features included an increased armour package, bullbar, ECM and anti-IED suites, and a CROWS RWS fitted with an M2 .50 calibre machine gun. The UKSF had been using an armoured hull protected vehicle in Afghanistan the Supacat HMT 400 since 2003. The Bushmaster provided all-round protection, compared to the HMT 400 with an exposed crew, that was required in built-up urban areas in Iraq. UKSF left Iraq in May 2009.


title: Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle

text: In 2016, the Escapade was used in the Battle of Mosul during the Iraqi Civil War. In 2017, the Escapade was used in the Battle of Raqqa during the Syrian Civil War.


title: Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle

text: During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, following Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address to the Australian Parliament on 31 March 2022 and a request for Bushmasters, Prime Minister Scott Morrison agreed to gift 20 Bushmasters to Ukraine on 8 April 2022. They were to be flown to Europe on RAAF C-17 transports, which can carry 4 vehicles at a time. The Bushmasters were fitted with remote weapon stations and included two ambulance variants.


title: Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle

text: On 19 May 2022, Defence Minister Peter Dutton announced that Australia would gift a further 20 Bushmasters. On 4 July 2022, during Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's visit to Ukraine he announced an additional 20 Bushmasters would be gifted.


title: Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle

text: On 15 September 2022, "ABC News" reported that the Ukrainian ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko had made a request to the Australian government for an additional 30 Bushmasters. "ABC News" reported that 40 of the 60 Bushmasters had been delivered. Myroshnychenko said that the Bushmasters were being “used almost as infantry fighting vehicles – though they are not that – because we don't have anything else". On 27 October 2022, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced an additional 30 Bushmasters would be gifted, bringing the total up to 90.


title: Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle

text: On 29 May 2022, the "Australian Financial Review" reported that there was a video confirming the destruction of one Bushmaster by Russian troops in Trypillia, Donetsk. The driver of another Bushmaster who was close to the attack when it happened praised the quality of the vehicle, saying everyone survived the attack.


title: Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle

text: President Zelensky in an address to the Lowy Institute think tank on 6 October 2022 praised the Bushmasters saying "This equipment has performed masterfully in real combat operations".


title: Aang

text: Avatar Aang () is the title character and protagonist of Nickelodeon's animated television series "" (created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko), voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen. Aang is the last surviving Airbender, a monk of the Air Nomads' Southern Air Temple.


title: Aang

text: He is an incarnation of the "Avatar", the spirit of light and peace manifested in human form. As the Avatar, Aang controls all four elements (water, earth, fire, and air) and is tasked with bringing balance and keeping the at peace. At 112 years old (physically 12), Aang is the series' reluctant hero, spending a century in suspended animation in an iceberg before being discovered and joining new friends and Sokka on a quest to master the elements and save their world from the imperialist Fire Nation.


title: Aang

text: Aang's character has appeared in other media, such as trading cards, video games, T-shirts, and web comics. Aang has also been portrayed by Noah Ringer in the live-action film "The Last Airbender" (2010) and voiced by D.B. Sweeney in the sequel series "The Legend of Korra". Gordon Cormier will portray Aang in the upcoming Netflix live-action adaptation of the same name.


title: Aang

text: Upon death, Avatar Roku was reincarnated and Aang was born, and later raised by Monk Gyatso, a senior monk at the Southern Air Temple and friend of the late Avatar Roku. Even prior to learning he was the Avatar, Aang distinguished himself by becoming one of the youngest Airbending Masters in history by inventing a new technique. As a result of Fire Lord Sozin's increasingly hostile attitude towards the other nations, the senior monks decided to reveal Aang's nature as the Avatar four years before the traditional age (Avatars are usually told of their status once they turn 16) and relocate him to one of the other Air Temples. Learning that he was to be taken from Gyatso caused Aang to flee the monastery on his flying bison, Appa, before being caught by a storm; the life-or-death conditions triggered the Avatar State, encasing the young Avatar and his bison in an air-pocket among icebergs, where he remained suspended for a century. Although Monk Gyatso had snuck into Aang's bedroom late at night to tell Aang that he won't be relocated to the Eastern Air Temple, it had already been too late.


title: Aang

text: After one hundred years of suspended animation in an iceberg, twelve-year-old Aang was freed when found by and Sokka, yet unaware of the events that occurred during his rest. His reawakening catches the attention of Prince Zuko, the banished son of current Fire Lord , and Aang is forced to leave, with Katara and Sokka accompanying him after they learn that he is the Avatar. Aang and his new friends visit the Southern Air Temple, where they meet a winged lemur whom Aang later names Momo. It is there that Aang learns that the Fire Nation wiped out his people, including Gyatso which causes Aang to summon his avatar spirit and the other 3 nations find out the avatar is back. After a series of misadventures, Aang meets his previous incarnation, Roku, who informs him that he must master all four bending arts and end the war before the coming of Sozin's Comet at the end of summer. Upon arriving to the Northern Water Tribe, after a few conflicts, Aang became an apprentice of Waterbending Master Pakku alongside Katara. After helping the Water Tribe drive off a Fire Nation invasion headed by Admiral Zhao, with Katara as his teacher, Aang and his group journey to the Earth Kingdom to find an Earthbending teacher. Ozai, angered that Iroh betrayed the Fire Nation, sends his daughter, Princess Azula, to hunt down Zuko and Iroh.


title: Aang

text: In the second season, Aang learns Earthbending from Toph Beifong after he has a vision of the blind Earthbender in a swamp telling him to find her. On their journey, they are chased by Fire Princess Azula and her friends and Ty Lee. The group learns about the Day of Black Sun in a secret underground library, and they attempt to reveal the information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se. However, their flying bison, Appa, is captured by Sandbenders. Aang grows upset and angry and confronts the Sandbenders, learning that Appa has been sold. After stopping a Fire Nation drill threatening the safety of Ba Sing Se, they look for Appa only to find themselves dealing with the Dai Li before exposing their leader's deception. The group reunites with Jet helping them find Appa at Dai Li headquarters. They expose the Hundred Year War to the Earth King, who promises to help them invade the Fire Nation. Soon after, Aang meets a guru who attempts to teach Aang to open his seven "chakras" in order to control the defensive 'Avatar State'; but when Aang perceives Katara in danger, he leaves before the seventh "chakra" is opened, and thus loses his progress until the seventh is opened. Though Aang manages to unlock the Seventh Chakra, he is fatally electrocuted by Azula. He is later brought back to life by Katara, using the spirit water given to her by the Northern Water Tribe at the start of the second season.


title: Aang

text: In the beginning of third and final season, after he woke after being knocked out by Azula, Aang grew some hair. After that, Aang is unable to use the Avatar State for quite a while. Although reluctant with the plan at first, Aang accepts to have everyone think he had died and his remaining allies attack the Fire Nation's capital, but are thwarted by Azula. However, Zuko has a change of heart, rebels against his father, and offers to teach Aang Firebending. Aang and Zuko also improve their Firebending powers with the help of their world's last two dragons. (In this part of the show, he is 13) During the finale, finding himself on a strange island, Aang is reluctant to actually kill Fire Lord Ozai, despite his four previous past lives (Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, and Yangchen) convincing him it is the only way. But upon learning that he was actually on the back of a Lion Turtle, one of four that made the first benders by manipulating humans' chi, Aang receives the Lion Turtle’s Energybending. During the final battle, Aang's scar is pressed against a jutting rock, opening his chakras and allowing him to enter the Avatar State. Aang wins the battle, but before he delivers the final blow, he stops himself. Instead, Aang removes Ozai's bending ability, rendering him harmless and ending the Hundred Year War. Later, in the Fire Nation capital, Aang is seen beside Zuko, the new Fire Lord. The series ends with Aang and his friends relaxing at Iroh's tea shop at Ba Sing Se, where Aang and Katara share a kiss.


title: Aang

text: After beginning the Harmony Restoration Movement, an event that was meant to remove Fire Nation remnants from the Earth Kingdom, Aang agrees to end Zuko's life should he go down a path similar to his father, after the latter requests it, being stopped by Katara from entering the Avatar State as he began a later encounter with Zuko and then tries to mediate protestors and the Yu Dao resistance, afterward assembling members of a fan club and forming the "Air Acolytes", a group that he intends to teach the ways of the Air Nomads. Aang then participated in a search for Zuko's mother Ursa, successfully finding her and entering the Spirit World to assist in locating the Mother of Faces, convincing her to grant Rafa a new face. After a period of entertainment, Aang is contacted by his former life Yangchen, who tried contacting him about Old Iron's return. Aang also has a fight with the Rough Rhinos when they try to oust him from the Eastern Fire Refinery. Aang then aids in preventing Azula, disguised as the Kemurikage, from stealing any more children.


title: Aang

text: He later returns to the South Pole and reunites with Katara and Sokka during the festival of the rebuilt and newly expanded Southern Water Tribe, with assistance from dozens of waterbenders and healers from the Northern Water Tribe.


title: Aang

text: Being frozen in an iceberg for 100 years while in the Avatar State drained much of Aang's life energy. While he did not feel the effects for many years, after he entered middle age in his 50s, the strain of this exertion increasingly weighed upon his body. Ultimately, it resulted in Aang dying at the relatively young biological age of 66 (since he was in the ice for 100 years, in 153 AG). Aang was survived by his wife, Katara, and his three children, but he did not live to see his grandchildren, all of whom would become powerful airbenders. As his death drew near, Aang tasked the Order of the White Lotus with finding and guiding the new Avatar after him. When Aang died, the Avatar spirit reincarnated into Korra of the Southern Water Tribe. Aang intended for the Order to simply guide and guard Korra, but several mishaps in the aftermath of Aang's death (including a kidnapping attempt by the anarchist Zaheer) and the still-fragile state of relations between the now-Five Nations resulted in Katara and Tenzin sequestering Korra in a compound at the South Pole, bringing teachers to her instead of allowing her to seek out her own.


title: Aang

text: In the sequel series' first season, Avatar Aang's spirit occasionally serves as the spiritual advisor to seventeen-year-old Korra (much like the previous Avatar incarnation, Roku, did for Aang). Korra struggles with the spiritual aspects of bending and being the avatar, so initially Aang is only able to give Korra glimpses of his memory concerning Yakone in relation to her confrontations with his two sons, Amon and Tarrlok, the products of Yakone's Bloodbending vendetta on the Avatar. It is only after she loses her ability to bend that Korra allows herself to listen to her past lives, at which point Aang is able to manifest more directly to her and helps to restore her powers by triggering the Avatar State and teaching her to Energybend.


title: Aang

text: The sequel series' second season reveals that Avatar Aang apparently treated Tenzin as his favorite child, due to his son's Airbender status; Kya and Bumi mentioned to Tenzin that Aang always took Tenzin on vacations with him, but never them. Aang's Air Acolytes also were unaware that Aang had two other children besides Tenzin. Tenzin himself insists that Aang loved all his children equally, but that Aang took more precedence in raising him since Tenzin would have to take care of future generations of airbenders. Aang himself later appears, along with Roku, Kyoshi and Kuruk, before Korra in a vision and encourages her to learn the origins of Wan (the first Avatar) and Raava. Aang, or possibly a vision of him, later appears in the Spirit World, encouraging Tenzin to move past the enormous legacy of being Aang's son and find his own path. Korra's connection to Aang and the other preceding Avatars is severed when Vaatu extracts and subsequently kills Raava, the divine Avatar Spirit entity within her. Even though Raava is reborn and fused again with Korra, she discovers, to her dismay, that her spiritual connection to Aang and all past Avatars is gone forever.


title: Aang

text: When Zaheer gave an ultimatum: Surrender to him or lose the new airbenders, Korra meditated into the spirit realm, she expressed her wish to call upon Aang's spirit and ask his advice in saving the new Air Nomads. Iroh's spirit assured her that, even though Aang was no longer able to guide her, she could ask one of Aang's closest friends: Lord Zuko.


title: Aang

text: Aang's character appeared in the "" on a multitude of cards. He appeared in the as one of the four playable characters. Two sequels were made: "", followed by "". Aang appears as a playable racer in "".


title: Aang

text: Aang also appeared in "Escape from the Spirit World", an online video game found on Nickelodeon's official website. The game includes certain plot changes that are not shown in the show. The show's directors, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, claim the events are canon. Aang is also a playable character in the Nickelodeon game Super Brawl Universe. There is also a location in the game set in the Air Temple.


title: Aang

text: Tokyopop has published a films comic (sometimes referred to as cine-manga), in which Aang, being the main character of the show, appears repeatedly.


title: Aang

text: In 2010, director M. Night Shyamalan cast 12-year-old Tae Kwon Do practitioner Noah Ringer as Aang in the film adaptation of the series, "The Last Airbender". His name in the film is pronounced [ɑŋ] instead of [eəŋ]. The casting of a presumed white actor in the role of Aang (as well as a primarily Caucasian cast) in the Asian-influenced "Avatar" universe triggered negative reactions from some fans, marked by accusations of racism, a letter-writing campaign, and a protest outside of a Philadelphia casting call for movie extras. The casting decisions were also negatively received by several critics, who stated that the original casting call expressed a preference for Caucasian actors over others. Noah Ringer later identified himself to "Entertainment Weekly" as an American Indian.


title: Aang

text: Aang's character was developed from a drawing by Bryan Konietzko, depicting a bald man with an arrowlike design on his head, which the artist developed into a picture of a child with a flying bison. Meanwhile, Michael Dante DiMartino was interested in a documentary about explorers trapped in the South Pole, which he later combined with Konietzko's drawing.


title: Aang

text: The plot they described corresponds with the first and second episodes of "Avatar: The Last Airbender", where the "water people" ( and Sokka) rescue the "air guy" (Aang) while "trapped in a snowy wasteland" (the Southern Water Tribe) with "some fire people [that] are pressing down on them" (Fire Nation Troops and Zuko). The creators of the show intended Aang to be trapped in an iceberg for one hundred years, later to wake inside a futuristic world, wherein he would have a robot named Momo and a dozen bisons. The creators lost interest in this theme, and changed it to one hundred years of suspended animation. The robotic Momo became a flying lemur, and the herd of bison was reduced to one.


title: Aang

text: According to the show's creators, "Buddhism and Taoism have been huge inspirations behind the idea for "Avatar"." As shown in "The King of Omashu" and "The Headband", a notable aspect of Aang's character is his vegetarian diet, which is consistent with Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism. In the Brahmajala Sutra, a Buddhist code of ethics, vegetarianism is encouraged. Furthermore, the writers gave Aang a consistent reluctance to fight and an aversion to killing. In "The Spirit World (Winter Solstice, Part 1)", Aang encounters an angry spirit destroying a village and kidnapping villagers; but instead of fighting the spirit, Aang negotiates. He is also depicted showing ethical reluctance in killing the Phoenix King, and eventually strips Ozai of his bending instead of murdering him.


title: Aang

text: As the Avatar, Aang is capable of bending all four elements (air, water, earth and fire). The series' creators consulted a professional martial artist in the design of the show's fighting style; each of these styles' philosophies and set movements corresponds to a specific "bending arts".


title: Aang

text: The creators made bending a natural extension of consistent limitations and rules of the world. Everything in Avatar's world, whether it be clothing, culture or infrastructure, is influenced by bending. The City of Omashu uses a complex system of gravity and earthbending to transport supplies. The Water Tribes were a naval superpower: their buildings are made of ice and used waterbending as mechanisms for their walls and gates. Airbenders built temples atop high mountains and cliffs that could only be easily reached by Airbending and they have a hermetic ideology to reflect this isolation. The Fire Nation were the first to industrialize due to their ability to generate power and master metallurgy with their bending of fire and lightning.


title: Aang

text: At the start of the series, Aang is initially only proficient in air, having been able to bend it with ease since he was a young child. Through the teaching of Katara and Zuko, he gradually learns waterbending and firebending; but struggles with Toph's teachings of earthbending due to its rigid nature conflicting with his desire for freedom. Aang utilizes all elements equally, but heavily favors airbending for crowd control and non-lethal purposes, in accordance with his pacifism principles.


title: Aang

text: As the Avatar, Aang serves as a bridge between "Material World" and the "Spirit World", the plane of existence where the universe's disembodied spirits dwell. His spirituality training progressed swiftly, granting visions and access to the various memories from his past lives.


title: Aang

text: As his predecessors, his most powerful ability is the Avatar State, in which he receives a massive boost in raw power from the cosmic energy, enabling him to easily overcome any opponent that tries to fight him head on. In addition, this state allows him to access bending techniques he would not have learned during his own lifetime but throughout those of his past lives. If he is killed in the Avatar State, then this would cause the Avatar to cease being reincarnated and end the Avatar Cycle.


title: Aang

text: Aang was received exceptionally by critics and fans. Kendall Lyons stated, "Aang seems to be the lighthearted kid that you can easily familiarize yourself with", and that he "seems to bring comfort in the most dangerous or hostile situations." There are many similar descriptions about Aang as a childlike character who is "reckless and excitable". Reviews point out that "as the Avatar, Aang seems unstoppable, but as Aang, he is just another Airbender"; the review states later that the show continues to focus on a more realistic character instead of a perfect one by revealing many character flaws.


title: Aang

text: At the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Dutch windsurfer Kiran Badloe won the gold medal in Men's RS: X while having a blue arrow haircut inspired by Aang's design.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Vishwanath Pratap Singh (25 June 1931 – 27 November 2008), shortened to V. P. Singh, was an Indian politician who was the 7th Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1990 and the 41st Raja Bahadur of Manda. He is India's only prime minister to have been former royalty.


title: V. P. Singh

text: He was educated at the Allahabad University and Fergusson College in Pune. In 1969, he joined the Indian National Congress party and was elected as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. In 1971, he became a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha. He served as the Minister of Commerce from 1976 to 1977. In 1980, he became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and was known for the encounter of the gang of Phoolan Devi.


title: V. P. Singh

text: In the Rajiv Gandhi ministry, Singh was given various cabinet posts, including Minister of Finance and Minister of Defence. Singh was also the Leader of the Rajya Sabha from 1984 to 1987. During his tenure as Minister of Defence, the Bofors scandal came to light, and Singh resigned from the ministry. In 1988, he formed the Janata Dal party by merging various factions of the Janata Party. In the 1989 elections, the National Front, with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), formed the government and Singh became the 8th Prime Minister of India.


title: V. P. Singh

text: During his tenure as prime minister, he implemented the Mandal Commission report for India's backward castes, which led to major protests against the act. He also created the Sixty-second Amendment and enacted the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act in 1989. During his term the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed happened and on the ground the terrorists were released. In 1990 the infamous exodus of Kashmiri Hindus happened from the valley of Kashmir. Following his opposition to the Ram Rath Yatra, the BJP withdrew its support for the National Front, and his government lost the vote of no-confidence. Singh resigned on 7 November 1990. His prime ministerial tenure lasted for 343 days.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Singh was the prime ministerial candidate for the National Front in the 1991 elections, but was defeated. He spoke out against the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. After 1996, Singh retired from political posts, but continued to remain a public figure and political critic. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1998, and ceased public appearances until the cancer went into remission in 2003. However, he died from complications of multiple myeloma and kidney failure in 2008. He received full state honours.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Singh was born on 25 June 1931, the third child of the Hindu Rajput Zamindar family of Daiya, which is located on the banks of the Belan River in the Allahabad district. He was adopted by Raja Bahadur Ram Gopal Singh of Manda and became the heir-apparent. He became the Raja Bahadur of Manda at the age of 10 in 1941. His ancestors were rulers of the predecessor state of Manikpur was founded in 1180, by Raja Manik Chand, brother of Raja Jai Chand of Kannauj. His family belonged to the Gaharwar clan of the Manda Zamindar.


title: V. P. Singh

text: He obtained his education from Colonel Brown Cambridge School, Dehradun and got his Bachelor of Arts and Law degree from Allahabad University. He was the elected the vice president of Allahabad University Students Union and later received a Bachelor of Science in physics from Fergusson College in the Pune University.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Singh was elected from Soraon to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1969 as a member of the Congress Party and became the chief whip for the legislative party. He got elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971 and was appointed a Deputy Minister of Commerce by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974. He served as the Minister of Commerce in 1976–77.


title: V. P. Singh

text: He was appointed as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1980, when Indira Gandhi was re-elected after the Janata interlude. As Chief Minister (1980–82), he cracked down hard on dacoity, a problem that was particularly severe in the rural districts of the southwest Uttar Pradesh. He received much favourable national publicity when he offered to resign following a self-professed failure to stamp out the problem, and again when he personally oversaw the surrender of some of the most feared dacoits of the area in 1983. The Behmai massacre provoked outrage across the country thereby causing V. P. Singh to resign in the wake of the killings. as he was the under whom Phoolan Devi surrendered as he saved her life by instructing the police officers to not kill her in the Police encounter to secure the votes of Dalits (though Phoolan's 22 gang members were killed). Singh was an upper caste man and had ruled the vote bank of upper-caste people in Uttar Pradesh for the Indian National Congress. He resumed his post as Minister of Commerce in 1983.


title: V. P. Singh

text: After he resigned from the position of Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, he was appointed as the leader of Rajya Sabha in the year 1984 and remained so until 1987. Before him the position was assigned to Pranab Mukherjee, who was removed because he then formed his own party, Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress. After Singh's tenure this position was given to N. D. Tiwari. He resigned from Rajya Sabha when he left Congress in 1987.


title: V. P. Singh

text: He was elected to Lok Sabha in 1971 from Phulpur (Lok Sabha constituency). He lost from Allahabad in 1977, but won in 1980 as member of Indira Congress. He resigned from Lok Sabha when he became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in June 1980. After he resigned from Congress and quit as Rajya Sabha member in 1987, he entered Lok Sabha by winning the bye-poll for Allahabad seat vacated by Amitabh Bachchan. He was elected to Lok Sabha from Fatehpur (Lok Sabha constituency) in 1989 and became Prime Minister for 11 months. He was elected from Fatehpur again in 1991, the last time he contested any election.


title: V. P. Singh

text: He was considered very close to Rajiv Gandhi as well as Indira Gandhi and was loyal to them at a time when the experienced leaders of Congress Party founded a new party, Indian National Congress, and empowered the party of Indira Gandhi (Indian National Congress). Singh was known as "Mr. Clean" because of his impeccable history and also because of his opposition for the corruption in Bofors deal, which lead the way for him to contest his own party to fight the 1989 Lok Sabha Election and become Prime Minister of India. Singh was responsible for managing the coalition of the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Rajiv Gandhi to dethrone him in the 1989 elections. He is remembered for the important role that he played in 1989 that changed the course of Indian politics. Singh acted boldly by issuing an arrest warrant against L. K. Advani midway through the latter's Rath Yatra.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Singh has been on the list as one of the senior-most and most powerful leaders of the Indian National Congress and has held many important ministry positions such as Defence, External Affairs and Finance.


title: V. P. Singh

text: He was called to New Delhi following Rajiv Gandhi's mandate in the 1984 general election. Singh was appointed to the post of Finance Minister in the tenth Cabinet of India, where he oversaw the gradual relaxation of the License Raj (governmental regulation) as Gandhi had in mind. During his term as Finance Minister, he oversaw the reduction of gold smuggling by reducing gold taxes and giving the police a portion of the confiscated gold. He also gave extraordinary powers to the Enforcement Directorate of the Finance Ministry, the wing of the ministry charged with tracking down tax evaders, then headed by Bhure Lal. Singh's efforts to reduce government regulation of business and to prosecute tax fraud attracted widespread praise.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Following a number of high-profile raids on suspected evaders  including Dhirubhai Ambani and Amitabh Bachchan – Gandhi was forced to sack him as Finance Minister, possibly because many of the raids were conducted on industrialists who had supported the Congress financially in the past. However, Singh's popularity was at such a pitch that only a sideways move seemed to have been possible, to the Defence Ministry (in January 1987). Then he succeeded his position to Rajiv Gandhi.


title: V. P. Singh

text: In the year 1987, Singh was appointed on the position of Defence Minister of India for the first time but only for a period less than 3 months from 24 January 1987 to 12 April 1987. He was at that time preceded to Rajiv Gandhi and succeeded in his position to Krishna Chandra Pant. At that time due to his non-corrupt image, he was also called 'Mr. Clean'. He was not able to do any good work for Defence due to holding the position for such a short time. But his biggest work was in the import of Bofors. Once ensconced in South Block, Singh began to investigate the notoriously murky world of defence procurement. After a while, word began to spread that Singh possessed information about the Bofors defence deal (the infamous arms-procurement fraud) that could damage Gandhi's reputation. Before he could act on it, he was dismissed from the Cabinet and, in response, resigned his memberships in the Congress Party (Indira) and the Lok Sabha. The deal of Bofors also played a very crucial role in making of his Prime Minister of India.


title: V. P. Singh

text: He was appointed as the 16th Minister of External Affairs of India and remained in the position for another very short period of just 3 days from 2 December 1989 to 5 December 1989. He was succeeded by Inder Kumar Gujral for the position.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Together with associates Arun Nehru and Arif Mohammad Khan, Singh floated an opposition party named Jan Morcha. He was re-elected to Lok Sabha in a tightly contested by-election from Allahabad, defeating Sunil Shastri. On 11 October 1988, the birthday of the original Janata coalition's leader Jayaprakash Narayan, Singh founded the Janata Dal by the merger of Jan Morcha, Janata Party, Lok Dal and Congress (S), in order to bring together all the centrist parties opposed to the Rajiv Gandhi government, and Singh was elected the President of the Janata Dal. An opposition coalition of the Janata Dal with regional parties including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Telugu Desam Party, and Asom Gana Parishad, came into being, called the National Front, with V. P. Singh as convener, NT Rama Rao as president, and P Upendra as a General Secretary.


title: V. P. Singh

text: The National Front fought 1989 General Elections after coming to an electoral understanding with Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties (the two main oppositions) that served to unify the anti-Congress vote. The National Front, with its allies, earned a simple majority in the Lok Sabha and decided to form a government. The Bharatiya Janta Party under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani and the left parties such as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India declined to serve in the government, preferring to support the government from outside.


title: V. P. Singh

text: In a meeting in the Central Hall of Parliament on 1 December, Singh proposed the name of Devi Lal as Prime Minister, in spite of the fact that he himself had been clearly projected by the anti-Congress forces as the 'clean' alternative to Rajiv Gandhi and their Prime Ministerial candidate. Chaudhary Devi Lal, a Jat leader from Haryana stood up and refused the nomination, and said that he would prefer to be an 'elder uncle' to the Government, and that Singh should be Prime Minister. This last part came as a clear surprise to Chandra Shekhar, the former head of the erstwhile Janata Party, and Singh's greatest rival within the Janata Dal. Shekhar, who had clearly expected that an agreement had been forged with Lal as the consensus candidate, withdrew from the meeting and refused to serve in the Cabinet.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Singh held office for slightly less than a year, from 2 December 1989 to 10 November 1990. After state legislative elections in March 1990, Singh's governing coalition achieved control of both houses of India's parliament. During this time, Janata Dal came to power in five Indian states under Om Prakash Chautala (Banarsi Das Gupta, Hukam Singh), Chimanbhai Patel, Biju Patnaik, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Mulayam Singh Yadav, and the National Front constituents in two more NT Rama Rao, and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. The Janata Dal also shared power in West Bengal under jyoti Basu, in Kerala under EK Nayanar and in Rajasthan under Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party government from outside). Singh decided to end the Indian army's unsuccessful operation in Sri Lanka which Rajiv Gandhi, his predecessor, had sent to combat the Tamil separatist movement.


title: V. P. Singh

text: In Punjab, Singh replaced the hard-line Siddhartha Shankar Ray as Governor with another former bureaucrat, Nirmal Kumar Mukarji, who moved forward on a timetable for fresh elections. Singh himself made a much-publicised visit to the Golden Temple to ask forgiveness for Operation Blue Star and the combination of events caused the long rebellion in Punjab to die down markedly in a few months.


title: V. P. Singh

text: V. P. Singh faced his first crisis within few days of taking office, when Kashmiri militants kidnapped the daughter of his Home Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir). His government agreed to the demand for releasing militants in exchange; partly to end the storm of criticism that followed, he shortly thereafter appointed Jagmohan Malhotra, a former bureaucrat, as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.


title: V. P. Singh

text: The Hindus of the Kashmir Valley, were forced to flee the Kashmir valley as a result of being targeted by JKLF and Islamist insurgents during late 1989 and early 1990. Of the approximately 300,000 to 600,000 Hindus living in the Kashmir Valley in 1990 only 2,000–3,000 remain there in 2016. 19 January 1990 is widely remembered by Kashmiri Hindus as the tragic "genocide day" of being forced out of Kashmir. Before governor Jagmohan took over and the governor's rule was imposed and the army deployed in January 1990, Hindus in the valley, were killed. Of the 2,150 incidents of violence, 2100 attacks were against civilians. The Home Minister at that time Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was blamed for this act and was called it as the support of the Islamic insurgents to establish Islamic state in Jammu and Kashmir (state).


title: V. P. Singh

text: In the year 1989, the government by Singh implemented the SC-ST Act of 1989 to prevent the atrocities against the members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It was enacted when the provisions of the existing laws (such as the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and Indian Penal Code) were found to be inadequate to check these crimes (defined as 'atrocities' in the Act). Recognising the continuing gross indignities and offences against Scheduled Castes and Tribes, the Parliament passed the 'Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. The objectives of the Act clearly emphasised the intention of the government to deliver justice to these communities through proactive efforts to enable them to live in society with dignity and self-esteem and without fear or violence or suppression from the dominant castes. The practice of untouchability, in its overt and covert form was made a cognizable and non-compoundable offence, and strict punishment is provided for any such offence. The act was finally passed somehow with controversies.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Singh himself wished to move forward nationally on social justice-related issues, which would, in addition, consolidate the caste coalition that supported the Janata Dal in northern India, and accordingly decided to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission which suggested that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector be reserved for members of the historically disadvantaged called Other Backward Classes.


title: V. P. Singh

text: This decision led to widespread protests among the upper caste youth in urban areas in northern India. OBC reservation (less creamy layer) was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2008. Culturally unique features of the protests and riots were bandhs (a version of a strike), hartals (a version of a municipal shut-down), dharnas (a version of swarming). Articles also highlighted politicians and victims of rioting during the protests. Although not advisable, late summer travel by airline and vehicle during the protests was possible without delays, between capitals New Delhi and Chandigarh, and Shimla for example. Police prevented extending the range and duration of the strikes, and some strike activity from even occurring. A national state of emergency was largely not declared to mobilize army units against any one demonstration. The strike helped to give large popularity to the Mandal Commission report and fueled the political grouping of the OBC castes, which later helped a lot for the strengthening of regional political parties and stronger parties other than Congress and BJP. Due to the loss of the votes of the backward caste neither party opposed it and on seeing the protest nor parties declined it.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Even after the passing of the reservations for the Other Backward Class, he was never accepted by them and his upper-caste voters also who didn't have trust him. Afterward, OBC leaders flexed their political power and outnumbered upper and lower castes to gain political power in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. The OBC leaders rejected to share power with lower caste leaders.


title: V. P. Singh

text: In 1990, the government-owned financial institutions like the Life Insurance Corporation of India and the General Insurance Corporation of India stonewalled attempts by the Reliance group to acquire managerial control over Larsen & Toubro. Sensing defeat, the Ambanis resigned from the board of the company. Dhirubhai, who had become Larsen & Toubro's chairman in April 1989, had to quit his position to make way for D. N. Ghosh, former chairman of the State Bank of India.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party was moving its own agenda forward. In particular, the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, which served as a rallying cry for several Hindu organisations, took on a new life. The party president, LK Advani, with Pramod Mahajan as aide, toured the northern states on a "rath" – a bus converted to look like a mythical chariot – with the intention of drumming up support. Before he could complete the tour by reaching the disputed site in Ayodhya, he was arrested by Lalu Prasad Yadav's orders at Samastipur on the charges of disturbing the peace and fomenting communal tension. Lalu wanted to prevent the communal clashes which took place at different places for this Rath Yatra, and also Bihar faced a similar scenario in 1989 due to the Shilanyas by Rajiv Gandhi Government. Karsevaks reached the site on 30 October 1990, and by the orders of Mulayam Singh Yadav police fired openly upon the Kar sevaks. A deadly riot took place in Ayodhya on 2 November.


title: V. P. Singh

text: This led to the Bharatiya Janata Party's suspension of support to the National Front government. VP Singh faced the vote of no confidence in the Lok Sabha saying that he occupied the high moral ground, as he stood for secularism, had saved the Babri Masjid at the cost of power and had upheld the fundamental principles which were challenged during the crises. "What kind of India do you want?" he asked of his opponents in Parliament, before losing the vote 142–346; only a portion of the National Front remaining loyal to him and the Left parties supported him in the vote.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Chandra Shekhar immediately seized the moment and left the Janata Dal with several of his own supporters (including Devi Lal, Janeshwar Mishra, HD Deve Gowda, Maneka Gandhi, Ashoke Kumar Sen, Subodh Kant Sahay, Om Prakash Chautala, Hukam Singh, Chimanbhai Patel, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Yashwant Sinha, VC Shukla, and Sanjay Singh) to form the Samajwadi Janata Party/Janata Dal (Socialist). Although Chandra Shekhar had a mere 64 MPs, Rajiv Gandhi the leader of the Opposition, agreed to support him on the floor of the House; so he won a confidence motion and was sworn in as Prime Minister. Eight Janata Dal MPs who voted for this motion were disqualified by the speaker Rabi Ray. His government lasted only a few months before he resigned and called for fresh elections.


title: V. P. Singh

text: VP Singh contested the new elections but his party was relegated to the opposition chiefly due to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi (May 1991) during the election campaign, and he later retired from active politics. He spent the next few years touring the country speaking about matters related to issues of social justice and his artistic pursuits, chiefly painting.


title: V. P. Singh

text: In 1992, Singh was the first to propose the name of the future President KR Narayanan as a (eventually successful) candidate for vice president. Later the same year in December, he led his followers to Ayodhya to oppose the Karseva proposed by LK Advani, and was arrested before he could reach the site; the Masjid was demolished by the Karsevaks a few days later. In 1996, the Congress party lost the general elections and Singh was the natural choice of the winning United Front (Singh was one of the forces behind the broad United Front coalition) for the post of Prime Minister. But he declined the offer made to him by communist veteran Jyoti Basu, Bihar strongman Lalu Prasad Yadav and almost all leaders of the Janata family.


title: V. P. Singh

text: In an interview with Shekhar Gupta in July 2005, Singh said that he had resigned from the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet due to differences that arose in the dealing of information regarding commissions taken by Indian agents in the HDW submarine deal, and not due to Bofors. In April 1987, Singh received a secret telegram from J.C.Ajmani, the Indian ambassador in West Germany. The telegram stated that Indian agents had received large commissions in the HDW deal. These commissions amounted to a staggering Rs. 32.55 crore (7% of the agreed price). Singh informed Rajiv Gandhi about this and instituted an inquiry. However, the handling of this case led to differences and Singh finally resigned from the cabinet.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Singh was diagnosed with cancer in 1998 and ceased public appearances. When his cancer went into remission in 2003, he once again became a visible figure, especially in the many groupings that had inherited the space once occupied by his Janata Dal. He relaunched the Jan Morcha in 2006 with actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar as president. After Jan Morcha drew a blank in the 2007 UP elections, Raj Babbar joined the Congress, and Singh's elder son Ajeya Singh took over the reins of the party in anticipation of the 2009 General elections. Ajeya Singh then contested as Jan Morcha candidate from Fatehpur, but lost to Rakesh Sachan of the Samajwadi Party. The Jan Morcha was renamed as the National Jan Morcha in June 2009. A month later, the Jan Morcha merged with the Indian National Congress. Singh was placed under arrest in Ghaziabad as he and his supporters were proceeding towards a hauling where prohibitory orders under Section 144 had been imposed to join the farmers agitating against the acquisition of land at Dadri by the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Industries and demanding adequate compensation. Later, Singh and CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan were again arrested on the UP border when they were proceeding to Dadri. However, Singh and Babbar were later able to evade the police, reaching Dadri on 18 August 2006, and ploughing the land in solidarity with the farmers.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Singh died after a very long struggle with multiple myeloma and kidney failure at Apollo Hospital in Delhi on 27 November 2008, aged 77. He was cremated at Allahabad on the banks of the River Ganges on 29 November 2008, his son Ajeya Singh lighting the funeral pyre. He was cremated with full state honour.


title: V. P. Singh

text: Singh married Princess Sita Kumari, the daughter of the Raja of Deogarh-Madaria, Rajasthan, on 25 June 1955. It was an arranged marriage. He turned 24 on the day of the marriage, and she was 18. Kumari was a Sisodia Rajput descended from Maharana Pratap of Udaipur. The couple had two sons, Ajeya Singh (born 1957), a chartered accountant in New York City, and Abhai Singh (born 1958), a doctor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. After his death, his elder son Ajeya Singh was sworned as the 42nd Raja Bahadur of the Manda estate in 2007 and in the year 2009 after two years of Singh's death, he merged his party Jan Morcha with Indian National Congress.


title: Veronica Porché Ali

text: Veronica Porché Anderson (formerly Porché Ali, ) is an American woman, the widow of American singer Carl Anderson and formerly the third wife of American boxer Muhammad Ali. She is the mother of Ali's two daughters Hana and actress and undefeated professional boxer Laila Ali. In May 2007, she appeared with her two daughters on "Dancing with the Stars".


title: Ann Reinking

text: Ann Reinking (November 10, 1949December 12, 2020) was an American dancer, actress, choreographer and singer. She worked predominantly in musical theater, starring in Broadway productions such as "Coco" (1969), "Over Here!" (1974), "Goodtime Charley" (1975), "Chicago" (1977), "Dancin'" (1978), and "Sweet Charity" (1986).


title: Ann Reinking

text: Reinking won the Tony Award for Best Choreography for her work in the 1996 revival of "Chicago", which she choreographed while reprising the role of Roxie Hart. For the 2000 West End production of "Fosse", she won the Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer. She also appeared in the films "All That Jazz" (1979), "Annie" (1982), and "Micki & Maude" (1984).


title: Ann Reinking

text: Ann Reinking was born on November 10, 1949, in Seattle, the daughter of Frances (née Harrison), a homemaker, and Walter Floyd Reinking, a hydraulic engineer. She grew up in Bellevue. As a child, Reinking began ballet lessons, studying with former Ballets Russes dancers Marian and Illaria Ladre in Seattle.


title: Ann Reinking

text: Reinking made her professional performing debut at the age of 12 in a production of Giselle with the English Royal Ballet. While attending middle school and high school, she studied at the San Francisco Ballet during the summers as a part of a scholarship. After graduating from Bellevue High School, she took summer classes offered by Joffrey Ballet at the Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington.


title: Ann Reinking

text: Reinking moved to New York City at age 18, and danced as a member of the corps de ballet at the Radio City Music Hall, performed in the ensemble of the second national tour of "Fiddler on the Roof", and at the age of 19 made her Broadway debut in the musical "Cabaret". She was a chorus dancer in "Coco" (1969), "Wild and Wonderful" (1971), and "Pippin" (1972). During "Pippin", she came to the attention of the show's director and choreographer Bob Fosse. Reinking became Fosse's protégée and romantic partner, even as Fosse was still legally married to (though separated from) Gwen Verdon at the time.


title: Ann Reinking

text: In 1974, Reinking came to critical notice in the role of Maggie in "Over Here!", winning a Theatre World Award. She starred as Joan of Arc in "Goodtime Charley" in 1975, receiving Tony Award and Drama Desk nominations for Best Actress in a Musical. In 1976, she replaced Donna McKechnie as Cassie in "A Chorus Line"; in 1977, she replaced Verdon in the starring role of Roxie Hart in "Chicago", a show directed and choreographed by Fosse. In 1978, she appeared in Fosse's revue "Dancin'", and received another Tony nomination. In that year, Reinking and Fosse ended their romance and separated. However, they continued to have a professional, creative collaboration. Fosse's influence on Reinking's work as a choreographer could be seen in her retention of his "dark, jazzlike, fluid body movements." In 1979, Reinking appeared in Fosse's semi-autobiographical film "All That Jazz" as Katie Jagger, a role loosely based on her own life and relationship with Fosse. Reinking appeared in two more feature films, as Grace Farrell in "Annie" (1982) and as Micki Salinger in "Micki & Maude" (1984). In a 2019 mini-series aired on FX, "Fosse/Verdon", Margaret Qualley portrayed Reinking and her relationship with Fosse.


title: Ann Reinking

text: In March 1985, Reinking appeared at the 57th Academy Awards to give a mostly lip-synced vocal performance accompanied by a dance routine of the Academy Award-nominated Phil Collins single "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)". The routine was poorly received by critics from the "Los Angeles Times" and "People", as well as by Collins himself in a "Rolling Stone" interview. In 1986, she returned to Broadway, replacing Debbie Allen in a successful revival of Fosse's production of "Sweet Charity". In 1991, she appeared in her first theater production following the birth of her son, the Broadway National Tour of "Bye Bye Birdie", costarring Tommy Tune. In 1992, she contributed choreography to "Tommy Tune Tonite!", a three-man revue featuring Tune. Reinking founded the Broadway Theater Project, a Florida training program connecting students with seasoned theater professionals, in 1994. In 1995, she choreographed the ABC television movie version of "Bye Bye Birdie".


title: Ann Reinking

text: Reinking had retired from performing by this time. In 1996, she was asked to create the choreography "in the style of Bob Fosse" for an all-star four-night-only concert staging of "Chicago" for City Center's annual Encores! Concert Series. When the producers could not obtain a suitable actress for the role of Roxie Hart, Reinking agreed to reprise the role after almost 20 years. This concert staging of "Chicago" was a hit, and a few months later the production (in its concert staging presentation) was produced on Broadway, with the Encores! cast: Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, James Naughton, and Marcia Lewis. In November 2016, the revival celebrated its 20th year, and as of March 2020, when theaters temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the longest-running American musical on Broadway. The revival of "Chicago" won numerous Tony Awards, and Reinking won the Tony Award for Best Choreography. She recreated her choreography for the 1997 London transfer of "Chicago", which starred Ute Lemper and Ruthie Henshall.


title: Ann Reinking

text: In 1998, she co-created, co-directed and co-choreographed the revue "Fosse", receiving a Tony Award co-nomination for Best Direction of a Musical. For her work on the West End production of "Fosse", Reinking (along with the late Bob Fosse himself) won the 2001 Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer.


title: Ann Reinking

text: In 2001, she received an honorary doctorate from Florida State University for her contribution to the arts. Reinking served as a judge of annual New York City public school dance competitions for inner-city youth, and appeared in "Mad Hot Ballroom", the 2005 documentary film about the competition. Reinking collaborated with composer Bruce Wolosoff and Thodos Dance Chicago to create the ballet "The Devil in the White City," based on the novel of the same name by Erik Larsen; the Chicago Sun-Times named it "Best Dance of 2011." Reinking again collaborated with Wolosoff in 2013 to create "A Light in the Dark", a ballet inspired by the lives of Helen Keller and Ann Sullivan, which was nominated for a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award in Outstanding Achievement for Arts/Entertainment Programming. In 2012, she contributed choreography for the Broadway production of "An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin". She served as a member of the advising committee for the American Theatre Wing.


title: Ann Reinking

text: Reinking married four times. She was first married on March 19, 1972, to Broadway actor Larry Small, whom she divorced the same year. Reinking was married to investment banker Herbert Allen Jr. from 1982 to 1989. In 1989, she married businessman James Stuart, with whom she had a son, Christopher, before their divorce in 1991. Reinking married sportswriter Peter Talbert in 1994, and was stepmother to his four children.


title: Ann Reinking

text: Reinking's son has Marfan syndrome, and Reinking worked with the Marfan Foundation, which is dedicated to raising awareness of the disease. She produced the 2009 documentary "In My Hands: A Story of Marfan Syndrome".


title: Ann Reinking

text: Reinking died in her sleep at a hotel in Seattle on December 12, 2020, at the age of 71, while on a visit to her family in the area.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Education in the Philippines is provided by public and private schools, colleges, universities, and technical and vocational institutions in the country. Funding for public education comes from the national government. For the academic year 2017–2018, about 83% of K–12 students attended public schools and about 17% either attended private schools or were home-schooled.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: With the "trifocalization" of the educational system in the country, three government agencies handle each level of education. At the basic education level, the Department of Education (DepEd) sets overall educational standards and mandates standardized tests for the K–12 basic education system, although private schools are generally free to determine their own curriculum in accordance with existing laws and Department regulations. At the higher education level, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) supervises and regulates colleges and universities. Meanwhile, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) regulates and accredits technical and vocational education programs and institutions in the country.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: By law, education is compulsory for thirteen years (kindergarten and grades 1–12) and is grouped into three levels: kindergarten, elementary school (grades 1–6), junior high school (grades 7–10), and senior high school (grades 11–12). They may also be grouped into four key stages: 1st key stage (kindergarten–grade 3), 2nd key stage (grades 4–6), 3rd key stage (grades 7–10) and 4th key stage (grades 11–12). Children usually enter kindergarten at age 5.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Institutions of higher education may be classified as either public or private college or university; public institutions of higher education may further be subdivided into two types: state universities and colleges and local colleges and universities.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: During the pre-colonial period, most children were provided with solely vocational training, which was supervised by parents, tribal tutors or those assigned for specific, specialized roles within their communities (for example, the babaylan). In most communities, stories, songs, poetry, dances, medicinal practices and advice regarding all sorts of community life issues were passed from generation to generation mostly through oral tradition. Some communities utilized a writing system known as baybayin, whose use was wide and varied, though there are other syllabaries used throughout the archipelago.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Formal education was brought to the Philippines by the Spaniards, which was conducted mostly by religious orders. Upon learning the local languages and writing systems, they began teaching Christianity, the Spanish language, and Spanish culture. These religious orders opened the first schools and universities as early as the 16th century. Spanish missionaries established schools immediately after reaching the islands. The Augustinians opened a parochial school in Cebu in 1565. The Franciscans, took to the task of improving literacy in 1577, aside from the teaching of new industrial and agricultural techniques. The Jesuits followed in 1581, as well as the Dominicans in 1587, setting up a school in Bataan. The church and the school cooperated to ensure that Christian villages had schools for students to attend.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Schools for boys and for girls were then opened. "Colegios" were opened for boys, ostensibly the equivalent to present day senior high schools. The Universidad de San Ignacio, founded in Manila by the Jesuits in 1589 was the first "colegio". Eventually, it was incorporated into the University of Santo Tomas, College of Medicine and Pharmacology following the suppression of the Jesuits. Girls had two types of schools – the "beaterio", a school meant to prepare them for the convent, and another, meant to prepare them for secular womanhood.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The Spanish also introduced printing presses to produce books in Spanish and Tagalog, sometimes using "baybayin". The first book printed in the Philippines dates back to 1590. It was a Chinese language version of "Doctrina Christiana". Spanish and Tagalog versions, in both Latin script and the locally used "baybayin" script, were later printed in 1593. In 1610, Tomas Pinpin, a Filipino printer, writer and publisher, who is sometimes referred to as the "Patriarch of Filipino Printing", wrote his famous ""Librong Pagaaralan nang manga Tagalog nang Uicang Castilla"", which was meant to help Filipinos learn the Spanish language. The prologue read:


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The Educational Decree of 1863 provided a free public education system in the Philippines, managed by the government. The decree mandated the establishment of at least one primary school for boys and one for girls in each town under the responsibility of the municipal government, and the establishment of a normal school for male teachers under the supervision of the Jesuits. Primary education was also declared free and available to every Filipino, regardless of race or social class. Contrary to what the propaganda of the Spanish–American War tried to depict and current popular media, they were not religious schools; rather, they are schools that were established, supported, and maintained by the Spanish government.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: After the implementation of the decree, the number of schools and students increased steadily. In 1866, the total population of the Philippines was 4,411,261. The total number of public schools for boys was 841, and the number of public schools for girls was 833. The total number of children attending those schools was 135,098 for boys, and 95,260 for girls. In 1892, the number of schools had increased to 2,137, of which 1,087 were for boys, and 1,050 for girls. By 1898, enrollment in schools at all levels exceeded 200,000 students. There was some opposition to universal education from Spanish priests, and only 1.6% of the population gained more than a primary school education.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Among those who benefited from the free public education system were a burgeoning group of Filipino intellectuals: the "Ilustrados" ('enlightened ones'), some of whom included José Rizal, Graciano López Jaena, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, and Antonio Luna—all of whom played vital roles in the Propaganda Movement that ultimately inspired the founding of the Katipunan.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Some schools established during this period were founded by non-Spaniards, and were therefore not colonial creations. Damian Domingo, a Chinese mestizo, established in 1823 a fine arts school known as the "Academia de Dibujo y Pintura", which is now the Fine Arts College of the University of the Philippines. In 1868, Doña Margarita Roxas de Ayala, also of Chinese mestizo ancestry, established the girls' school "La Concordia".


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The defeat of Spain following the Spanish–American War led to the short-lived Philippine Independence movement, which established the First Philippine Republic. The schools maintained by Spain for more than three centuries were closed briefly, but were reopened on August 29, 1898, by the Secretary of Interiors. The "Instituto Burgos" (Burgos Institute), the "Academia Militar" (the country's first military academy), and the "Universidad de Literaria de Filipinas" (Literary University of the Philippines) were established. Article 23 of the Malolos Constitution mandated that public education would be free and obligatory in all schools of the nation under the First Philippine Republic. However, the Philippine–American War hindered its progress. Established in the American-occupied zone, Colegio Filipino (now National University) is a Philippine college which dates from this period which has survived to the present. There also existed for many decades the Rosa Sevilla Memorial School, which was originally founded on July 15, 1900, as the "Instituto de Mujeres", an all-girls private school.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: About a year after having secured Manila, the Americans were keen to open up seven schools with army servicemen teaching with army command-selected books and supplies. In the same year, 1899, more schools were opened, this time, with 24 English-language teachers and 4500 students. In that system, basic education consisted of 6 years elementary and 4 years secondary schooling which, until recently, prepared students for tertiary level instruction for them to earn a degree that would secure them a job later on in life.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: A highly centralized, experimental public school system was installed in 1901 by the Philippine Commission and legislated by Act No. 74. The law exposed a severe shortage of qualified teachers, brought about by large enrollment numbers in schools. As a result, the Philippine Commission authorized the Secretary of Public Instruction to bring more than 1,000 teachers from the United States, who were called the "Thomasites", to the Philippines between 1901 and 1902. These teachers were scattered throughout the islands to establish "barangay" schools. The same law established the Philippine Normal School (now the Philippine Normal University) to train aspiring Filipino teachers. The high school system was supported by provincial governments and included special educational institutions, schools of arts and trades, an agricultural school, and commerce and marine institutes, which were established in 1902 by the Philippine Commission.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Several other laws were passed throughout the period. In 1902, Act No. 372 authorized the opening of provincial high schools. while in 1908, Act No. 1870 initiated the opening of the University of the Philippines, now the country's "national university".


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The emergence of high school education in the Philippines, however, did not occur until 1910. It was borne out of rising numbers in enrollment, widespread economic depression, and growing demand by big businesses and technological advances in factories and the emergence of electrification, and the growing need for skilled workers. In order to meet this new job demand, high schools were created and the curriculum focused on practical job skills that would better prepare students for professional white-collar or skilled blue-collar work. This proved to be beneficial for both the employer and the employee; the investment in human capital caused employees to become more efficient, which lowered costs for the employer, and skilled employees received a higher wage than those employees with just primary educational attainment.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: However, a steady increase in enrollment in schools appeared to have hindered any revisions to the then-implemented experimental educational system. Act No. 1801, also known as Gabaldon Law, was passed in 1907, which provided a fund of a million pesos for the construction of concrete school buildings and is one of many attempts by the government to meet this demand. Inline as well with the "Filipinization" policy of the government, the Reorganization Act of 1916 provided that all department secretaries except the Secretary of Public Instruction must be a natural-born Filipino.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: A series of revisions (in terms of content, length, and focus) to the curriculum began in 1924, the year the Monroe Survey Commission released its findings. After having convened in the period from 1906 to 1918, what was simply an advisory committee on textbooks was officiated in 1921 as the Board on Textbooks through Act No. 2957. The Board was faced with difficulties, however, even up to the 1940s, but because financial problems hindered the possibility of newer adaptations of books.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The Moro Province originally had its own Department of Public Instruction, separate from the national system. Education rapidly expanded, with the number of teachers rising from 74 in 1904 to 239 by 1914. The number of schools rose from 52 in 1904 to 366 in 1920, with a corresponding increase in enrollment from 2114 to over 33,000. Such enrollment was primarily made up of first and second year students, after which attendance decreased. This increase also disproportionately benefited Christian inhabitants of the province, and most staff were Christians from elsewhere in the Philippine Islands. Perhaps less than 10% of Muslim children attended public schools in 1920, with attendance remaining low throughout the American period. Education was primarily in English, and aimed to introduce American values in the local population. The Department of Public Instruction moved under the control of the national Bureau of Education in 1915, and was fully integrated into the national system by 1922, part of a process of transferring government to local Filipinos as part of a pathway towards independence. Educational materials, when they began to incorporate stories and cultural aspects from the Philippines, represented the mainstream Christian narrative. Under the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the national curriculum served as a tool to inoculate a single national identity across the diverse ethnolinguistic groups of the archipelago.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: During the Japanese occupation, education was used for indoctrinating the public to inculcate Japanese ideologies, causing low enrollment rates. The Japanese Military Administration's Order No. 2 of February 17, 1942, had six basic points: the propagation of Filipino culture; the dissemination of the principle of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere; the spiritual rejuvenation of the Filipinos; the teaching and propagation of Nippongo; the diffusion of vocational and elementary education; and "the promotion of the love of labor".


title: Education in the Philippines

text: After having been closed following the outbreak of the Pacific War, elementary schools followed by vocational and normal schools reopened. Colleges offering courses in agriculture, medicine, fisheries, and engineering also resumed teaching, however, law courses were not instructed. Textbook passages concerning American ideologies of democracy were censored. Educational reforms required teachers to obtain licenses following rigid examinations. All heads of educational institutions were also required to obtain licenses. Also, the teaching of Tagalog, Philippine History, and character education was reserved for Filipinos.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The Japanese created the following educational institutions: the Training Institute, for former USAFFE soldiers; the Normal Institute; the Preparatory Institute of Government Scholars to Japan; the Government Employees Training Institute; the New Philippines Cultural Institute; Constabulary Academy No. 1, at the Mapa High School Building in Bagumpanahon; Constabulary Academy No. 2, at the former Araullo High School Building in Bagumbayan; Constabulary Academy No. 3 at the Torres High School Building in Bagumbuhay; and Constabulary Academy No. 4 at the Legarda Elementary School in Bagumpanahon. During this period the Philippine Nautical School, now known as the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy, remained in operation and its student population was even increased by the Japanese authorities. A school established during the Japanese period which still exists is St. Paul College of Makati.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The education sector of the country had undergone several changes throughout the years after the relinquishment of the United States of its authority all over the Philippines in 1947. Then President Manuel Roxas issued Executive Order No. 94 which renamed Department of Instruction into Department of Education with the regulation and supervision of public and private schools belonging to the Bureau of Public and Private Schools.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: After the war, the public school system was rebuilt with the launching of the Philippine Community School program, which has received worldwide recognition. As early as 1953, the educational development in the Philippines drew attention from neighboring Asian countries, with several groups of Asian educators visiting the country to observe and study the vocational industrial schools.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Following independence Islamic schools began to spread in Mindanao, creating a parallel educational structure all the way up to higher education.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Under the Marcos administration, the Department of Education became the Department of Education and Culture and consequently Ministry of Education and Culture through "Proclamation No. 1081" and "Presidential Decree No. 1397", respectively.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The Education Act of 1982 provided for an integrated system of education covering both formal and non-formal education at all levels. Section 29 of the act sought to upgrade educational institutions' standards to achieve "quality education" through voluntary accreditation for schools, colleges, and universities. Section 16 and Section 17 upgraded the obligations and qualifications required for teachers and administrators. Section 41 provided for government financial assistance to private schools.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: After the ratification of the 1987 constitution, the fundamental aims of education in the Philippines were defined and most importantly, elementary schooling was made compulsory for all children. Meanwhile, the enactment of the Free Public Secondary Education Act of 1988 or Republic Act 6655, mandated free public secondary education commencing in the school year 1988–1989.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In 1987, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports again became the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports under Executive Order No. 117 and remained practically unchanged until 1994.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: According to the 1991 report by the Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM), the department was recommended to be divided into three parts. Thus, the passage of the Republic Acts 7722 and 7796 in 1994 led the "trifocalization" of the educational system in the Philippines. Republic Act 7722 or the Higher Education Act of 1994 created the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), which assumed the functions of the Bureau of Higher Education and supervised tertiary degree programs Republic Act 7796 or the Technical Education and Skills Development Act of 1994, created the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), which absorbed the Bureau of Technical-Vocational Education as well as the National Manpower and Youth Council, and began to supervise non-degree technical-vocational programs. Meanwhile, the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports retained responsibility for all elementary and secondary education.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In August 2001, Republic Act 9155, otherwise called the Governance of Basic Education Act, was passed. This act changed the name of department to the current Department of Education (DepEd) and redefined the role of field offices (regional offices, division offices, district offices and schools). The act provided the overall framework for school empowerment by strengthening the leadership roles of headmasters and fostering transparency and local accountability for school administrations. The goal of basic education was to provide the school age population and young adults with skills, knowledge, and values to become caring, self-reliant, productive, and patriotic citizens.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In January 2009, the Department of Education signed a memorandum of agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to seal $86 million assistance to Philippine education, particularly the access to quality education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and the Western and Central Mindanao regions.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In 2010, then-Senator Benigno Aquino III expressed his desire to implement the K–12 basic education cycle to increase the number of years of compulsory education to thirteen years. According to him, this will "give everyone an equal chance to succeed" and "have quality education and profitable jobs". After further consultations and studies, the government under President Aquino formally adopted the K–6–4–2 basic education system—one year of kindergarten, six years of elementary education, four years of junior high school education and two years of senior high school education. Kindergarten was formally made compulsory by virtue of the Kindergarten Education Act of 2012, while the further twelve years were officially put into law by virtue of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013. Although DepEd has already implemented the K–12 Program since SY 2011–2012, it was still enacted into law to guarantee its continuity in the succeeding years.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In 2011, the Department of Education started to implement the new K-12 educational system, which also included a new curriculum for all schools nationwide. The K-12 program has a so-called "phased implementation", which started in School Year 2011–2012.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The Philippines had a simple literacy rate of 98.3% as of 2015, and a functional literacy rate of 90.3% as of 2013.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In 2017, the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte mandating the government through all state universities and colleges (SUCs) to provide free tertiary education for all Filipino citizens. The mandate does not include private schools. However, certain subsidies for students enrolled in private higher education institutions are available.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In January 2021, the alternative learning system (ALS) was institutionalized by a law signed by President Duterte.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Formal education is the hierarchically structured, chronologically graded 'education system', running from primary school through the university and including, in addition to general academic studies, a variety of specialized programs and institutions for full-time technical and professional training.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: K-12 and tertiary education from colleges are characterized as formal education. This does not include the informal education in the Philippines learned from daily experience and the educative influences and resources in his or her environment. Nor does this include non-formal education like the alternative learning systems provided by the Department of Education (DepEd), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and other programs from educational institutions.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The former system of basic education in the Philippines from 1945 to June 4, 2012, consists of one-year preschool education, six-year elementary education and four-year high school education. Although public preschool, elementary and high school education are provided free, only primary education is stipulated as compulsory according to the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Pre-primary education caters to children aged five. A child aged six may enter elementary schools with, or without pre-primary education. Following on from primary education is four-years of secondary education, which can theoretically be further divided into three years of lower secondary and one year of upper secondary education. Ideally, a child enters secondary education at the age of 12. After completing their secondary education, students may progress to a technical education and skills development to earn a certificate or a diploma within one to three years, depending on the skill. Students also have the option to enroll in higher education programs to earn a baccalaureate degree.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Although the implementation of the K-12 curriculum was started on June 6, 2011, when Kindergarten became compulsory, the pre-university education retained its 10 year-cycle until the implementation of K-12 on Grades 1 and 7 which caused First to Fourth Year was changed to Grades 7 to 10 upon the start of School Year 2012–2013 on June 4, 2012, and Grades 11 and 12 were added on SY 2016-2017 and 2017–2018, respectively, and the educational system that has been in use since 1945 is still in effect until the old curriculum was entirely phased out on June 5, 2017, when K-12 curriculum was implemented on Grade 6. Final batch of high school and elementary students under this educational system and old curriculum were graduated in 2015 and 2017, respectively


title: Education in the Philippines

text: K-12 is a program that covers kindergarten and 12 years of basic education to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Senior High School, an important feature of the new K-12 program, creates several opportunities. Standard requirements will be applied to make sure graduates know enough to be hirable. Senior High School students will now be able to apply for TESDA Certificates of Competency (COCs) and National Certificates (NCs) to provide them with better work opportunities. Partnerships with different companies will be offered for technical and vocational courses. Senior High School students can also get work experience while studying. Aside from these, entrepreneurship courses will now be included. Instead of being employed, one can choose to start his or her own business after graduating, or choose to further one's education by going to college.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Senior High School, as part of the K to 12 Basic Curriculum, was developed in line with the curriculum of the Commission of Higher Education (CHED) – the governing body for college and university education in the Philippines. This ensures that by the time one graduates from Senior High School, one will have the standard knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to go to college.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Because of the shift of the curriculum in K-12, the College General Education curriculum will have fewer units. Subjects that have been taken up in Basic Education will be removed from the College General Education curriculum.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: K-12's implementation began on June 6, 2011, when kindergarten became compulsory. It continued by fully implementing the system for Grades 1 and 7 on June 4, 2012, for grade 11 in 2016, and for grade 12 in 2017. From June 6, 2011, to June 5, 2017, both the old and K-12 curriculum were concurrently in use. The old curriculum was entirely phased out upon the implementation of K-12 curriculum for grade 6 on June 5, 2017.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The Department of Education's justifications in this change, in implementing 13 years of basic education, is that the Philippines is the only country in Asia and one of the four countries worldwide with a 10-year pre-university cycle (Angola, Djibouti and Myanmar are the other three), and that the 13-year program is found to be the best period for learning under basic education. It is also the recognized standard for students and professionals globally.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Elementary school, sometimes called primary school or grade school (Filipino: "paaralang elementarya", sometimes "mababang paaralan"), is the first part of the educational system, and it includes the first six years of compulsory education (Grades 1–6) after compulsory pre-school education called Kindergarten. In public schools, the core/major subjects that were introduced starting in Grade 1 include Mathematics, Filipino, and "Araling Panlipunan" (synonymous to Social Studies). English is only introduced after the second semester of Grade 1. Science is only introduced starting Grade 3. Other major subjects then include Music, Arts, Physical Education, and Health (abbreviated as MAPEH), TLE (Technology and Livelihood Education) for Grade 6, EPP (Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan) for Grades 4 and 5, Mother Tongue (Grades 1–3) and "Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao" (synonymous to Ethics, Values or Character Education). In private schools, subjects in public schools are also included with the additional subjects including:Computer Education as a separate subject, though it is included in EPP and TLE through its ICT component. In Christian and Catholic schools, Religious Education is also part of the curriculum. Islamic schools like Madrasa schools have a separate subjects for Arabic Language and for Islamic Values or abbreviated as ALIVE. Chinese schools may also have subjects in Chinese Language and Culture. International schools also have their own subjects in their own language and culture.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: From Kindergarten until Grade 3, students will be taught using their mother tongue, meaning the regional languages of the Philippines will be used in some subjects (except Filipino and English) as a medium of instruction. Aside from being incorporated as a language of instruction, it is also a separate subject for Grades 1–3. But from Grade 4, Filipino and English as a medium of instruction will then be used.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In December 2007, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced that Spanish would make a return as a mandatory subject in all Filipino schools starting in 2008, but this did not come into effect.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Prior to the adoption of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) system in school year 2012–2013, the Deped followed a Bilingual Policy. This called for the medium of instruction to be Filipino for: Filipino, Araling Panlipunan, Edukasyong Pangkatawan, Kalusugan at Musika; and English for: English, Science and Technology, Home Economics and Livelihood Education. Article XIV, Section 7 of the 1987 Philippine constitution mandates that regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. As a result, the language actually used in teaching is often a polyglot of Filipino and English with the regional language as the foundation, or rarely the local language. Filipino is based on Tagalog, so in Tagalog areas (including Manila), Filipino is the foundational language used. International English language schools use English as the foundational language. Chinese schools add two language subjects, such as Min Nan Chinese and Mandarin Chinese and may use English or Chinese as the foundational language. The constitution mandates that Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis. Following on this, a few private schools mainly catering to the elite include Spanish in their curriculum. Arabic is taught in Islamic schools.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In July 2009, the Department of Education moved to overcome the foreign language issue by ordering all elementary schools to move towards initial mother-tongue based instruction (grades 1–3). The order allows two alternative three-year bridging plans. Depending on the bridging plan adopted, the Filipino and English languages are to be phased in as the language of instruction for other subjects beginning in the third and fourth grades.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Until 2004, primary students traditionally took the National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT) administered by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS). It was intended as a measure of a school's competence, and not as a predictor of student aptitude or success in secondary school. Hence, the scores obtained by students in the NEAT were not used as a basis for their admission into secondary school. During 2004, when DECS was officially converted into the Department of Education, the NEAT was changed to the National Achievement Test (NAT) by the Department of Education. Both the public and private elementary schools take this exam to measure a school's competency. As of 2006, only private schools have entrance examinations for secondary schools.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Secondary school in the Philippines, more commonly known as "high school" (Filipino: "paaralang sekundarya", sometimes "mataas na paaralan"), consists of 4 lower levels and 2 upper levels. It formerly consisted of only four levels with each level partially compartmentalized, focusing on a particular theme or content. Because of the K-12 curriculum, the high school system now has six years divided into 2 parts. The lower exploratory high school system is now called "Junior High School" (Grades 7–10) while the upper specialized high school system is now called "Senior High School" (Grades 11 and 12).


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Secondary students used to sit for the National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT), which was based on the American SAT, and was administered by the Department of Education. Like its primary school counterpart, NSAT was phased out after major reorganizations in the education department. Its successors, the National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) and National Achievement Test (NAT) were administered to 3rd and 4th Year students respectively, before the implementation of the K-12 system. The National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) is now being administered for Grade 9 and the National Achievement Test (NAT) is being administered at Grades 3, 6, 10, and 12. Neither the NSAT nor NAT have been used as a basis for being offered admission to higher education institutions, partly because pupils sit them at almost the end of their secondary education. Instead, higher education institutions, both public and private, administer their own College Entrance Examinations (CEE) (subjects covered will depend on the institutions). Vocational colleges usually do not have entrance examinations, simply accepting the Form 138 record of studies from high school, and enrollment payment.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Students graduating from the elementary level automatically enroll in junior high, which covers four years from grades 7 to 10. This level is now compulsory and free to all students attending public schools. There are two main types of high school: the general secondary school, which enroll more than 90 percent of all junior high school students, and the vocational secondary school. In addition, there are also science secondary schools for students who have demonstrated a particular gift in science at the primary level as well as special secondary schools and special curricular programs.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Admission to public school is automatic for those who have completed six years of elementary school. Some private secondary schools have competitive entrance requirements based on an entrance examination. Entrance to science schools, art schools, and schools with special curricular programs is also by competitive examination sometimes including interviews, and auditions.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The Department of Education specifies a compulsory curriculum for all junior high school students, public and private. There are five core subjects: Science, Mathematics, English, Filipino, and Araling Panlipunan (Social Studies).


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Other subjects in all levels of junior high school include MAPEH (a collective subject comprising Music, Art, Physical Education and Health), Character Education ("Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao") and Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE).


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In other public schools or private secondary schools offers specialized curricular programs for students with gifts and or talents as well as aptitude in fields of: sciences and mathematics, sports, the arts, journalism, foreign language, or technical-vocational education. These are under the DepEd with the latter in partnership with TESDA. These special programs for special schools are: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (STEM, formerly called ESEP); Special Program in Sports (SPS); Special Program in the Arts (SPA); Special Program in Journalism (SPJ); Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL); and Technical-Vocational-Livelihood Program (TVL). These programs offers comprehensive secondary education in a particular academic or career pathway field. Because of being career-pathway oriented, special and advanced subjects are offered in replace of TLE subject and sometimes includes even more time and subjects for specialized learning and training.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In selective schools, various languages may be offered as electives like in an SPFL program, as well as other subjects such as computer programming and literary writing like in STEM schools or Laboratory High Schools. Chinese schools have language and cultural electives. International Schools offer electives or subjects like writing, culture, history, language, art, or a special subject unique to the school. Preparatory schools like technical vocational schools or schools with TVL Programs usually add some business, entrepreneurship, and accountancy courses.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Special science high schools like those of PSHS System (administered by DOST) and RSHS System (administered by DepEd) have biology, chemistry, and physics at every level and or exclusive and advanced science and math subjects as well as subjects in technology, pre-engineering, and research. These science schools are more exclusive and with higher standards compared to general high school's STEM Program. PSHS or RSHS students may transfer to a STEM program school but not the way around. PSHS students may also transfer to an RSHS and vice versa only for the incoming sophomore year. Both PSHS and RSHS students must maintain an average grade especially in their advanced sciences and math subjects on a quarterly basis or else will lose the chance of continuing education in these schools, therefore, will make students transfer to a STEM Program school or a general high school. This system makes sure the quality and exclusiveness of science high schools.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: In special government-run art school such as Philippine High School for the Arts, which is administered by the Cultural Center of the Philippines in coordination with the Department of Education, and as well as the National Commission for Culture and the Arts offers a much specialized and exclusive curricular program than general high school's SPA Program. Like the PSHS and RSHS to STEM schools system, students from PHSA should maintain grades in their art field of specialization or will transfer to a SPA school or a general high school. But SPA students can enroll in PHSA only for incoming sophomores passing the exclusive test, auditions, and interviews, and not from general high schools but from SPA school only. Both schools of Philippine Science High School System and the Philippine High School for the Arts are administered by government agencies apart from DepEd but still is in coordination with it. These schools offer scholarships for students with high aptitude and talents in science fields or the art fields granting those who pass rigorous and exclusive tests with many special benefits like free board and lodging, free books, a monthly stipend, and classes taught by experts, masters, and active practitioners of their respective fields among others.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Formal technical and vocational education starts at secondary education, with a two-year curriculum, which grants access to vocational tertiary education. However, there is also non-formal technical and vocational education provided as alternative learning programs.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Vocational schools offer a higher concentration of technical and vocational subjects in addition to the core academic subjects studied by students at general high schools. These schools tend to offer technical and vocational instruction in one of five main fields: agriculture, fisheries, trade-technical, home industry, and ‘non-traditional’ courses while offering a host of specializations. During the first two years, students study a general vocational area, from the five main fields mentioned. During the third and fourth years they specialize in a discipline or vocation within that area. Programs contain a mixture of theory and practice.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Upon completion of Grade 10 of Junior High School, students can obtain Certificates of Competency (COC) or the vocationally oriented National Certificate Level I (NC I). After finishing a Technical-Vocational-Livelihood track in Grade 12 of Senior High School, a student may obtain a National Certificate Level II (NC II), provided he/she passes the competency-based assessment administered by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority(TESDA).


title: Education in the Philippines

text: The new high school curriculum includes core classes and specialization classes based on student choice of specialization. Students may choose a specialization based on aptitude, interests, and school capacity. Classes or courses are divided into two: Core Curriculum Subjects and Track Subjects.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: There are eight learning areas under the core curriculum. These are Language, Humanities, Communication, Mathematics, Science, Social Science, Philosophy, and PE and Health. These will make up 15 core courses with the same contents and competencies but with allowed contextualization based on school's location despite of specializations of tracks and strands.


title: Education in the Philippines

text: Track subjects will be further divided into Applied or Contextualized Subjects and the Specialization Subjects. There would be 7 Applied Subjects with competencies common to tracks and strands or specializations but with different contents based on specialization, and there would be 9 Specialization Subjects with unique contents and competencies under a track or strand.