Special Education in the Philippines

Special education refers to the arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials, accessible settings, and other interventions designed to address the needs of students with learning differences, mental health issues, physical and developmental disabilities, and giftedness. Provision of special education is inferred from two provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Article II, Section 17 provides that the state must give priority to education, while Article XIV, Section 1 guarantees that this education be accessible to all: appropriate steps must be taken.

Chapter II of Title II of the Magna Carta for Disable Persons, RA 7277, introduced some rules on special education in the Philippines. Sec. 12 mandates that the "State shall take into consideration the special requirements of disabled persons in the formulation of educational policies and programs." On the other hand, learning institutions are encouraged "to take into account the special needs of disabled persons with respect to the use of school facilities, class schedules, physical education requirements, and other pertinent consideration." Specifically, learning institutions are encouraged to provide "auxiliary services that will facilitate the learning process for disabled persons."

Sec. 14 of RA 7277 provides that the State "shall establish, maintain and support complete, adequate and integrated system of special education for the visually impaired, hearing impaired, mentally retarded persons and other types of exceptional children in all regions of the country."

However, AFAIK, there is still no comprehensive law which mandates special education in the Philippines. There are two pending Senate bills: SB No. 517, introduced by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, and SB No. 2020, introduced by Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago. Both are still pending on the Committee Level.

Sen. Estrada's bill proposes the establishment of special education centers in strategic places to be able to provide accessible services for children with special needs. It mandates that there should be at least one Special Education Center for each school division, and at least three SpEd Centers for school divisions with Children with Special Needs (CSN). Furthermore, it mandates that the State shall institutionalize an adequate and relevant educational program for every child with special needs (Sec. 2). The bill seeks to empower the parents of CSN, by providing them with information about the full continuum of services and possible placement options (Sec. 3, para. d). It further seeks to empower the teachers and other caregivers by providing them with the capability to identify, refer and intervene with developmental disorders and disabilities (Sec. 3, para. e). (I hate the word "prevent" which is actually used in the bill.) But perhaps, the most lofty ideal as identified by the bill is to "effectuate significant and positive changes in community attitudes towards disability and the need to provide special education, care and other needs of children with special needs. (Sec. 3, para. g)."

The putative Special Education Act of 2007 identifies ten groups of Children with Special Needs (CSNs) (Sec. 4, para. f):
1. gifted children and fast learners
2. mentally handicapped/mentally retarded
3. visually impaired
4. hearing impaired
5. children with behavior problems
6. orthopedically handicapped
7. children with special health problems
8. children with learning disabilities (perceptual handicap, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia)
9. speech impaired
10. persons with autism

Sen. Santiago's bill is substantially the same as Sen. Estrada's.

However, these two bills just legislates something which DepEd had apparently been doing as early as 1997. In DepEd Order No. 27, s. 1997, all divisions where required to organize at least one SPED Center to cater to children with special needs.

The ultimate goal of special education in the public schools, according to the Special Education Division of DepEd, is the integration or mainstreaming of learners with special needs into the regular school system and eventually in the community, following the principles of The Salamanca Statement on Principles, Policy and Practice in Special Education.

Out of 84.4 million Filipinos, approximately 5.486 million (13%) are individuals with special needs. Around 4.8% are provided with appropriate educational services, but the 95.2% of those with exceptionalities are unserved.

In 1995 to 1996 about 80,000 special needs children enrolled. 156,270 by school year 2004 to 2005: 77,152 were mentally gifted and 79,118 were children with disabilities:

40, 260 learning disabilities
11,597 hearing impaired
2,670 visually impaired
12,456 intellectually disabled
5,112 behavior issues
760 orthopedically disabled
5,172 children with autism
912 speech defectives
142 chronically ill
32 children with cerebral palsy

A very comprehensive review of the state of special education in the Philippines, in 1988, can be found in Pascual and Gregorio's "A Case Study on Special Education in the Philippines".