ADB’s Senior High School Support Program helps the Philippine government implement an effective senior high school system with a view to helping graduates find jobs more easily.

Education is the Philippine government’s central strategy for achieving inclusive economic growth by investing in human capital development to reduce poverty and build national competitiveness.

The government recently expanded the basic education system from 10 years to 1 year of kindergarten, 6 years of elementary school, 4 years of junior high school, and 2 years of senior high school (SHS). The addition of SHS intends to bring the Philippines’ basic education system more into line with international standards and make SHS graduates more competitive domestically and globally.

Within the context of the government’s wider SHS program, ADB’s Senior High School Support Program (SHSSP) will help increase the employability of secondary school graduates, provide them with more jobs, and reduce the time it takes for them to find a job. The program uses ADB’s results-based lending modality, which links disbursements to results rather than expenditures. SHSSP's accountability framework provides incentives for the Philippine government to achieve results that further strengthen its own systems and institutional capacity.