CFO, DepEd hold 'online kumustahan' for Philippine Schools Overseas
/
The Philippine government is intensifying initiatives to provide proactive support to Philippine Schools Overseas (PSOs), signaling the government's concern for educators and students caught in Middle East conflict zones.
Led by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) and the Department of Education (DepEd), the virtual summit or “online kumustahan” connected more than 300 representatives from 27 schools in the Middle East and two in Italy. The initiative aligns with the CFO’s core mandate to preserve Filipino identity and academic standards within the diaspora, ensuring that the next generation of Filipinos remains integrated with the national system despite geopolitical instability.
CFO Secretary Dante “Klink” Ang II joined the session to address the unique pressures facing PSOs, which serve as critical cultural and educational anchors for Filipino families abroad.
With alert levels fluctuating across the Middle East, the Inter-Agency Committee on Philippine Schools Overseas (IAC-PSO) outlined specific interventions to safeguard the learning environment including the streamlining of the transfer of student records to ensure seamless reintegration for families forced into sudden repatriation establishment of direct lines between schools and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) regarding local safety protocols and alert level shifts and adjusting learning delivery modes to comply with host-country directives while maintaining the integrity of the Philippine curriculum.
Education Assistant Secretary Jocelyn Andaya emphasized that these measures are designed to provide "academic breathing room" for teachers and students dealing with the psychological and logistical toll of regional conflict.
As a member of the IAC-PSO, the CFO’s role is to ensure that PSOs remain viable partners in national development, bridging the gap between overseas life and Philippine heritage through education.
About the Commission on Filipinos Overseas
The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), established under Batas Pambansa 79, is dedicated to the welfare and empowerment of Filipinos permanently residing abroad. It is distinct from the Department of Migrant Workers, which primarily addresses the needs of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and other temporary migrants.
The CFO, which is an agency under the Office of the President, works to strengthen the social, economic, and cultural ties of global Filipinos with their home country. Its primary stakeholders include Filipino permanent migrants, dual citizens, spouses and partners of foreign nationals, participants of the US Exchange Visitor Program, participants of Au Pair Program for Europe, and Filipino descendants overseas.
For more information, please contact Atty. Jan Karlo Magracia of the Office of the Secretary at jkmagracia@cfo.gov.ph.
