Addressing the education problem of Filipinos in Japan

All too often attempts to solve the thorny problem of Filipino children’s education fall short

Education has become a thorny issue among Filipino residents in Japan. The Filipino resident population now tops 200,000—a big portion of which consists of spouses of Japanese nationals and Japanese descendants or nikkeijin.

The demographic profile of Filipinos has changed dramatically in the last five years--from one dominated by the transient entertainment workforce and the hidden overstaying segment to one consisting of the formal documented sector. Partly as a result of the progressive tightening of the Immigration Law, there has been a significant crossover as entertainers and overstayers married Japanese nationals and legalized their stay. At the same time, the Immigration Law has become more accommodative of foreigners who go through the legal channel, paving the way for the entry of nikkeijins and trainees (kenshusei) as well as the diversification of categories for the working visa.

The net result is a more stable, formal resident population. I can confidently say that the ratio between the documented and the undocumented has shifted in favor of the former. Consequently, Filipinos are now able to openly identify and discuss their problems.

Needless to say, the education problem cuts across all segments of the Filipino populace. School problems of Filipino-Japanese children occasionally get highlighted in the mainstream Japanese media which point out their adjustment and language difficulties. Because of the media coverage of these problems, Japanese public schools have responded by hiring more Assistant English Teachers (AET’s), among whom are Filipinos. The AET’s are often called upon to assist in the problems of children of foreigners as well as those of mixed marriages.

However, many problems still remain unaddressed officially. Children among overstaying Filipinos, many of whom are unreported to the local office, often do not go to school. There is also a growing number of children born out of wedlock or from previous marriages in the Philippines, who have been brought by their mothers to Japan. Most of them come as dependents and are eventually adopted by their Japanese stepfathers and their biological mothers, as the Japanese law requires conjugal adoption. In many cases, Filipinas decide to bring these mostly teenage children to Japan because of their truancy and other anti-social behavior in the Philippines. Ironically, these children find themselves ill-fit in Japanese schools and relapse to the same behavior. They cause strain to the marriage of their parents.

Some grassroots, mostly church-based, solutions have been tried to address such needs. A Sunday elementary school has been successfully run by a Filipino academician in cooperation with Filipino students in one Catholic church in Ibaraki Pref. Another Christian church, the Ibaraki Christian Center (ICC), has hired a Japanese member to teach Japanese and Mathematics to children of Filipino members. Short-term classes in computer, entrepreneurship and other practical subjects have also been offered in some Catholic churches in Tokyo as well as at the Philippine Embassy. Because they are run by volunteers, the problem is sustaining them in the long run. Many such projects lose steam when their initiators leave.

An international school for Filipinos has also been floated as a proposal. But as an Embassy officially opined, the financial, bureaucratic and logistical requirements for materializing this project are simply insurmountable at the moment.

My company, Uninetwork, has just concluded a contract with the CAP College, which is a premier institution in distance learning in the Philippines, to provide a learning facility for Japan-based students. CAP has close to 9000 students, 116 of whom are located in 31 countries, including Japan. In fact, among its 11 overseas graduates, a New York-based cum laude graduate came home to receive Addressing the education problem of Filipinos in Japanhis diploma last April 2003.CAP College has specialized in the correspondence system, developing multi-media modules (print, tape, video, CD-ROM) with the cooperation of Silliman University. The system encourages self-study aided by user-friendly modules. Using the network of some 400 Japanese government-funded (Monbusho) Filipino scholars all over Japan, Uninetwork provides tutorial services to those who wish to take the courses in the traditional style. Uninetwork screens and qualifies tutors to ensure that the instruction meets DECS-approved standards. Uninetwork enjoys the advantage of being in the proximity of Tsukuba University, which has about 25 Filipino Monbusho scholars at any given time. The final exams may be taken at the Philippine Embassy or at the Makati office of CAP College.

Headed by former Education Secretary and National Artist Alejandro Roces, CAP College has unassailable qualifications as an education-provider.

Named UniCAP Learning Center, this educational partnership also provides tutorial services to elementary- and high school-level students, bringing them opportunity to proceed eventually to college and obtain an internationally recognized degree. UniCAP also provides tutorial services to those who are preparing for the Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT) usually administered by the Philippine Embassy in October every year, which is a means available for out-of-school learners to be accelerated to college.