MANILA, Philippines - A group of private schools has proposed to the Department of Education to create a body that would oversee and address the problem of all private learning institutions in a division.
Eleazardo Kasilag, president of the Federation of Associations of Private Schools and Administrators (FAPSA), said that one of the issues plaguing private schools is the exodus of tutors to public schools.
"Any wage hike comes at the expense of the private education sector. We cannot pay our teachers that much and consequently that means exodus to the public schools of our teachers,"he said.
He said that the continuous exodus of private school teachers would eventually force school owners to close shop.
"DepEd is focused heavily on the public schools and we understand that but since their hands are full, only limited time is given to private schools. It is high time that the Bureau of Private School should be created," Kasilag said.
He said that in the early fifties, there was the Bureau of Private Education.
"But for no apparent reason that was deserted," he said.
To date, he said that DepEd only assigns one supervisor to oversee all the private schools in a division.
Kasilag cited tht In the National Capital Region alone, there are 16 schools divisions with only 16 supervisors for close to 2,000 private schools in Metro Manila.
"While for the public schools, there are a minimum of eight schools division supervisors apart from district supervisors—depending on how many districts the city is divided—plus coordinators and all the staffers in one big division office," Kasilag said.
He aid that only one supervisor representing private schools is tasked to attend to other assignments like scouting, nutrition, one academic subject among others.
"And for that, DepEd hardly knows the problem of the private schools," he said.
However, Kasilag said private schools do not need the DepEd to them how to operate their respective schools.