Demand for Philippine curriculum schools high but supply is low

Dubai: Demand for seats in Philippine curriculum schools in Dubai has outstripped supply, pushing waiting time to register pupils to more than a year.

Parents said seats in the two Philippine curriculum schools in Dubai are no longer meeting demand. With the growing number of Filipinos in the emirate currently estimated at 400,000, the 1,800 seats at the United International Private School (UIPS) and another 1,800 seats at The Philippine School (TPS) are inadequate.

Sunshine Madrelejos, a mother of two, said it took her 18 months to get her son enrolled in a Philippine school here because of lack of available seats. Her son had already missed a school year when they didn’t make it to the reservation date last year. But they had to wait because they preferred a Philippine curriculum school.

“My son was still new to Dubai then. We wanted to enrol him in a Philippine school so he wouldn’t experience culture shock if I enrolled him in an international school.”

Tin Barrientos, a mother of one, said: “Out of 90 pupils applying for slots, only six can be accommodated. There are so many pupils who need to go to school but there are no seats. Why can’t they increase their capacity to accommodate these pupils?”

Ben-Jayson Uy, Head of Registration at UIPS, the longest-running Philippine curriculum school in the UAE, confirmed that the huge demand for seats is a common problem during school admissions.

“We have around 574 names on our waiting list from KG 1 to Grade 10. For KG 1 alone it’s around 190, and for Grades 1 to 6, it’s more than 200. For high school it’s around 95,” Uy said.

The same is true with TPS, Letty Maniaul, school director, said. “There’s a need to increase slots by 100 per cent; and we’re already at a 1,800-pupil capacity. For every slot that opens, 100 pupils apply. So we have no choice but to advise them to try other schools.”

The preference for enrolling children in Philippine schools is primarily due to budget constraints since a year’s tuition is between Dh6,000 and Dh10,000. The school curriculum is also a factor since it is accredited in the Philippines, said Jenny Gonzales, HR and relations manager at UIPS.

“Most parents’ mind-set is they’re not going to stay here for life anyway. They will, at some point, go back to the Philippines. So, when they do, the students are prepared for their college and university degrees.”

Gonzales said their school facilities have already been expanded to accommodate more pupils. They are considering another extension in the future.

Plans to expand TPS are under way but will be made after three years. Maniaul said TPS plans to accommodate up to 5,000 pupils.

But until then, they can only refer pupils to other private schools in Dubai or to the two Philippine schools in Sharjah.