Have you noticed that almost every new school these days claims to be an international school?

Top Department of Education (DepEd) officials agree ?international? schools appear to have become a dime a dozen in the country.

And they say many of the nearly 150 so-called international schools in the country today are anything but.

The DepEd National Capital Region legal office said in a paper there were actually constitutional, as well as statutory, provisions defining foreign schools.

?Under existing laws, international schools are those educational institutions of international character primarily established for foreign diplomatic personnel and their dependents and, as such, shall be classified and treated by the DepEd as schools of special character composed of an international student body and faculty and with management scheme, program, curriculum structure and academic standards separate and distinct from those normally under the control and supervision of the DepEd.?

The NCR legal office said, as a special school, the institution?s ?terms, establishment or recognition should only be governed by executive or legislative fiat as its enabling law.?

Must-haves

Aside from affiliations with overseas educational institutions, international schools were expected to have ?challenging academic curricula, including language courses which are not normally taught in regular schools,? the legal office said.

Ramon C. Bacani, DepEd undersecretary for regional operations, said some private schools used the term international for ?marketing purposes.?

Schools like the Cebu Christian Institute International and the St. Augustine International, both in Lapu-lapu City, Cebu, for instance, were said to be international ?in name only.? Their curricula were ?not well-defined? and ?do not show any evidence? that they were international schools, said a report of the DepEd Lapu-lapu division office.

Director Lolita Andrada of the Bureau of Secondary Education and DepEd-NCR head Teresita Domalanta admitted so-called international schools were mushrooming.

?Like the name Montessori, the term international has been abused here,? noted Dr. Restituto Lomeda, chief of DepEd-NCR?s Bureau of Secondary Education.

Marketing ploy

Many schools ?use the term (international) just to attract enrollees,? said Domalanta. ?Pag sinabing international ang school mo, siguradong bilib ang mga tao.?

Bacani pointed out many international schools here catered to Filipino students, not foreigners.

DepEd records showed that about 80.6 percent of the more than 22,700 students in 147 so-called international schools in the country were local.

Some had zero foreign students. The DepEd mentioned the Metropolitan International Christian Academy in Sta. Ana, Manila; Praise Emerald International School in Quezon City; Christian International School in Caloocan City; International School of the Arts, Language and the Academe in Laoag City; International Christian Academy in Balagtas, Bulacan; Angel John International Academy in Sta. Maria, Bulacan; Mt. Olives International School of Tomorrow and Phoenix International School of Science and Technology, both in Bacoor, Cavite; Westmead International School and Waldorf School International, both in Batangas City; Sta. Clara International Academy in Antipolo City; International Montessori School in Sta. Rosa, Laguna; Yamato International School in Lambunao, Iloilo; Livingstones International School in Bacolod City; Passi Montessori International School in Passi City (Iloilo); and St. Elijah International School in Carcar, Cebu, among others.

Bacani said ?real international schools catering primarily to foreign students are few since they can be established only by legislation,? if not presidential orders.

Those created by legislation include the Cebu International School in Cebu City, established in 2003 under Republic Act 9190; and Stonyhurst Southville International School in Batangas City, founded in 2005 under Republic Act No. 9493.

Created through presidential decrees were the International School Manila (PD 732), Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies (PD 2021), and Brent International School (PD 2022), among others.

Domalanta said ?when school owners come to us applying for a permit they already have a business name, like international school so and so, approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).? She said, after checking for usual requirements like curriculum details, they sent their people to check facilities (upon payment of a P2,000 fee). ?We make sure they (have the) requirements for the operation of a school,? she said.

The DepEd had no control over fees though it insisted on consultation with parents, she said.

DepEd lawyers said ?some private schools have explicitly and implicitly laid claim to the term international... via their corporate names...? They said DepEd had no legal basis or authority to prevent the use of the term despite the resulting misconception.

Thus, they said it was ?imperative that a department order be issued to completely address this gray area relative to the establishment and operations of international schools.?

DepEd is empowered

But lawyer Gonzalo Duque, president of the Dagupan City-based Lyceum Northwestern University, disagreed.

Duque, former head of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities and a former SEC corporate specialist, said DepEd was ?empowered by the Constitution, the fundamental law of the land, to regulate all schools falling under its jurisdiction.?

The agency, he said, could prevent the proliferation of fake international schools by not issuing permits to those with questionable backgrounds. Duque said it could do this during the accreditation stage.

?They (DepEd) are duty-bound to study but not approve all SEC-endorsed papers of school owners,? he said.

Assistant Secretary Teresita Inciong agreed DepEd was not completely helpless on this issue. ?Of course, DepEd regional offices can regulate all learning institutions covered by its mandate. If a school?s curriculum, facilities, etc., are found to be substandard and not in order, then they should not be given a permit. It?s as simple as that.?

The militant League of Filipino Students (LFS) said ?the proliferation of international schools is a clear manifestation of the deregulated nature of private education.?

Antonio Tinio, Alliance of Concerned Teachers chair, urged the DepEd to ?be more active in accrediting and monitoring these schools to ensure that they maintain certain standards of education quality and comply with laws protecting the interests and welfare of teachers, such as the mandatory allocation of 70 percent of any tuition increase to salaries.?

National Union of Students of the Philippines president Alvin Peters asked both DepEd and the Commission on Higher Education to ?take a more active role in regulating schools?from the curricula they offer to the schools? policies concerning the rights and welfare of both students and teachers and the tuition they collect.?

Undersecretary Vilma Labrador advises parents who are considering enrolling their children in an international school to find out if the institution has the necessary permits.