Schooling Outcomes in the Philippines, 1988-2008: Impacts of Changes in Household Income and the Implementation of the Free Public Secondary Education Act (RA 6655)

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In the Philippines, no assessment has been done yet on the impacts of changes in household income and the free public secondary education act (Republic Act 6655) on the outcomes of education. Thus, this paper inquires on the impacts of these two factors on schooling outcomes, namely, net participation rates, cohort survival rates, proportion of population at each educational attainment level, average years of schooling, and education inequality. Using descriptive statistics and regression analyses, this study found that RA 6655 has exerted positive impacts on schooling outcomes by relaxing household resource constraints in schooling investments. This finding suggests that there is a need to strengthen education reforms and create jobs that can be source of income to households.