Education in the Philippines has a similar system to that of the United States. Filipino children enter public school at about age four, starting from Nursery up to Kindergarten. At about seven years of age, children enter a 'primary school' (6 to 7 years). This is followed by secondary school (4 years). Students then sit for the College Entrance Examinations (CEE), after which they enter collegiate school (3 to 5 years). Other types of schools do exist, such as Private schools, Preparatory schools, International schools, and Science High Schools. Also, several nationalities, such as the Chinese, British, Americans, and the Japanese also have their own schools. School year in the Philippines starts from June and ends in March with a two-month summer break from April to May, one week of semestral break (every last week of October), and a week or two of Christmas break.
Primary school is also called 'Elementary school'. It consists of six levels, with some schools adding an additional level (level 7). The levels are grouped into two primary subdivisions, Primary-level, which includes the first three levels, and Intermediate-level, which includes the last three levels.
Secondary education in the Philippines is largely based on the American schooling system. It consists of four levels. Secondary schooling is compartmentalized, meaning, each level focuses on a particular 'theme or content'. Secondary school is often called simply as 'High school', and as such, this will be the prevailing word in this section.
Tertiary schools in the Philippines are either colleges or universities. Colleges are tertiary institutions that typically offer one or a few specialized courses, for example, in Science or in Liberal Arts, whereas Universities are tertiary institutions housing several constituent colleges or institutes, each offering academic degree programs of a particular type (i.e., college of commerce, college of law, college of denstistry, college of education, etc.). All tertiary institutions, also called higher education institutions are licensed, controlled, and supervised by the Commission on Higher Education of the Philippines. Volunteer accrediting organizations such as the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) exist to upgrade the standards of higher education in the country.