MANILA - More than 99% of the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) passers in academic year 2016-2017 came from private schools, according to the Philippine Collegian, citing data from the university's Office of Admissions.

Of the 1,558 who passed last year's UPCAT, 1,551 were from private high schools, while only two were from public schools and five were from foreign schools.

According to the Office of Admissions, the implementation of the K-12 system this year caused the decline of examinees from public high schools as most failed to produce graduates in 2016.

The number of UPCAT takers dramatically dipped to about 10,000 from the average of 81,500 examinees in previous years due to the K-12 system, which added two years of senior high school in the education curriculum.

The Philippine Collegian noted that in the past three years, the University of the Philippines had an almost 50-50 distribution of UPCAT passers from public and private high schools.