CFO flags risk of unaccredited Philippine schools abroad

TAGAYTAY, Cavite — The continued operation of unaccredited Philippine Schools Overseas (PSOs) competing for Filipino learners abroad may lead to difficulties in validating and transferring credentials once students return to the Philippines, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) said.

“Our concern at CFO and others in government is the proper credentials of the students because we don’t want to have them experience problems when they circle back to the Philippine school system,” CFO Chairman Dante Francis “Klink” M. Ang II told BusinessWorld during a two-day media training held by the agency over the weekend in Tagaytay.

He added that students from non-recognized schools may be forced to repeat grade levels since their records are not recognized by the Department of Education (DepEd).

“The cost would double and, of course, there is a psychological toll if students are forced to repeat a grade, right?” Mr. Ang said. “It’s a burden that no student should experience, and a financial challenge that no parent should have to contend with as well.”

The CFO reported that around 25,000 Filipino students are enrolled in 36 accredited PSOs across 11 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Italy, among others.

Mr. Ang said accredited schools in the UAE and other countries in the Gulf region complained about unaccredited institutions competing for students despite not following Philippine government regulations.

To help parents, the CFO has issued public advisories listing schools accredited by DepEd and the agency.

Jorge V. Tigno, a professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman’s Department of Political Science, said the challenges facing Filipino families overseas reflect broader weaknesses in the Philippine education system, including the lack of a clear long-term vision and a weak regulatory framework for schools operating both locally and abroad.

“Filipino families really have two choices — either enroll their kids in PSOs or leave them behind in the Philippines to study in our local but underrated school. Either option is costly for them,” he said in an e-mailed reply to questions.

“Over the long term, this can lead to migrant graduates who are just as unprepared as local graduates in facing the challenges of the real world,” he added.

Mr. Tigno said stronger oversight of PSOs is needed and that agencies such as DepEd and the CFO should be given sufficient resources to effectively monitor and regulate the schools.

“Perhaps we should even involve Congress to craft the necessary laws for this,” he added.

Meanwhile, the CFO is pushing for the deployment of Emigrant Services Attachés (ESA) and Honorary Diaspora Representatives (HDR) abroad to improve migrant data tracking and support Filipino communities overseas.

“ESA has remuneration. But the functions are the same. HDR… has no remuneration from the government side, from the CFO. So HDR works primarily as representatives and they voluntarily provide services as representatives abroad,” Angeli Louise Cando of the CFO’s Policy, Planning, and Research Division said.

She said the CFO plans to lobby Congress this year for a revised proposal to deploy these representatives, particularly in countries with large Filipino communities such as Japan, the United States, and South Korea. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking