Education

The National Statistics Office reports a simple literacy rate of 93.4% and a functional literacy rate of 84.1% for 2003. Literacy is about equal for males and females. Spending for education is around 2.5% of GDP. According to the Department of Education, or DepEd, there were 44,846 elementary schools and 10,384 secondary schools registered for the school year 2009–2010 while the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) lists 2,180 higher education institutions, 607 of which are public and 1,573 private.Classes start in June and end in March. The majority of colleges and universities follow a semester calendar from June to October and November to March. There are a number of foreign schools with study programs.Republic Act No. 9155 gives the framework of basic education in the Philippines and provides for compulsory elementary education and free high school education.