(Photo courtesy of Aladdin Cordero)
Many of us choose schools for our children based on proximity to our houses. Bad idea.
I wasted more than P10,000 after I enrolled my son in a “Montessori” school on Visayas Ave. But that’s not even my biggest regret. The school had horrible teaching staff, hidden fees and they forced 6-year-olds to do cursive writing and count up to one million –- in summer class before the actual school year. I checked with Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz and he said that was not the prescribed curriculum for this age group because they are not yet pedagogically prepared for such tasks.
After three days, my son became depressed. Can you imagine a depressed 6-year-old child? After the second day, he told me he didn’t understand why he was shaking in school when the Grade One teacher forced him to finish the writing drills. I remember thinking then that I could kick myself for not investigating the school before enrolling him.
But this is the least that can happen to you. The worst is to find that after finishing Grade Six, your child’s school operated without a government permit and any other school will not recognize all his grades. It can be traumatic, as some parents of a certain school in Quezon City found out. Parents are now suing the owners of the school, but even if they win, they still have to deal with having to find another school for their child.
Karen Galarpe, my co-writer for Open For Business, informed me that the law requires schools to get a permit from Department of Education first before opening their schools. The Manual of Regulations for Private Schools Sec. 26 par. 2, also says, “It is unlawful for any institution to offer programs or courses of study without prior permit issued by DepED.” However, according to DepEd itself, “a considerable number of private schools, some of them operated by religious groups, do not have permits to operate.”
The DepEd is tasked with inspecting schools and reviewing their curriculum, class programs, facilities, and qualifications of teaching and non-teaching personnel to ensure that children will get the quality education they deserve.
Again, what happens when a school does not have a DepEd permit yet still operates?
The children enrolled will receive no credit for their studies in that school. That’s like throwing a whole year’s tuition fees down the drain. To get credit for the year they studied in a non-recognized school, children will have to take the Philippine Validating Test administered by the National Education Testing and Research Center after getting endorsement from the DepEd. Only after they pass this test will the children receive credit for their studies.
For schools offering college courses, it’s the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) which gives permits.
Call or log on to the websites of DepEd [http://www.deped.gov.ph/] or CHED [http://www.ched.gov.ph/] to check if your child’s school has the necessary permit to operate.
Better safe than sorry.
(Thanks to Karen Galarpe for the technical information in this post.)
July 17th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
If the law states that “It is unlawful for any institution to offer programs or courses of study without prior permit issued by DepED.” and the article even says according to DepEd itself, “a considerable number of private schools, some of them operated by religious groups, do not have permits to operate.” then somehow there should be a change in the law itself to penalize those schools who operate without permits.
Kaya madaming schools na walang permit kasi walang napaparusahan.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Hi mommies… i have quiet the same dilemna…wuld you know if there is a ruling as to the maximum number of students per class in a private school?
My daughter is in grade 4 and i was shocked to learn that they are 50 in their class!!!
Even bigger than the population per class of public schools in makati!!!
July 17th, 2008 at 8:24 am
My family actually had to move house so we can be nearer to our children’s schools. And we are happy that we made that decision.
Children’s education, especially pre-school education, is crucial to a child’s development. It is during this stage that the child develops the love for learning and learns how to interact with other people. So, it is wise to shop around for schools. I’ve sent both my kids to school as early as age 2. The trick is to choose a school where the kids enjoy learning. They started with playschools and progressed to more structured learning. A two-hour daily stimulation at an early age will do wonders to your child than leaving your child with a yaya or watching TV the whole day.
Learning should never be forced - so I don’t advocate schools that force children to write, read or count when they are not ready. Don’t get me wrong — my 5 year old, while he can’t do cursive writing yet, he can write and illustrate his own book on dinosaurs. He can identify different animal species as well as state their characteristics. He is a voracious reader and is already reading books appropriate for 8-10 year old kids.
I agree that a DepEd accreditation should be a prerequisite for choosing a school BUT it should not be enough. Aside from budget (which is an important factor, by the way), choose a school where your child will look forward going to everyday. I don’t want to put my child in a school where he will be traumatized psychologically because he can’t read, write, count or sing a tune. Imagine the lifetime damage that it will do to your child! Aside from checking the facilities, check the school’s curriculum (are they appropriate for your child’s age?) as well as the teachers’ backgrounds. Observe how the teachers interact with the children. I also check the school’s policies to make sure that they are in consonance with my own principles. So, there is much more to choosing a child’s school than proximity to one’s house.
I put a premium to my children’s education especially during their formative years. After all, isn’t is true that “everything we learned in life we learned in kindergarten”? If we equip them with the right tools at a young age, they will be able to cope with life later on.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:27 am
>>That’s like throwing a whole year’s tuition fees down the drain.
More than the money, I think it’s the time wasted here that is much more important and the real concern. You can’t get back that year back in your child’s life. And 1 year is a whole lot of time just to be wasted on some people’s greed. That means lost opportunities for the kid which would mean a whole lot more to parents more than a year of tuition fees.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:10 am
Btw, alam ko lahat ng magulang gusto ng da best para sa anak pero sometimes nag-ooverboard na man tayo. A good book that I can suggest reading on how we are “over-thinking, over-spending” on our kids is Parenting, Inc.