The Philippine School in Greece, formerly the Katipunan Philippines Cultural Academy (KAPHILCA), was off to a good start during the current school year 2009-2010 with an enrollment of  214 children in all three levels of its curricular offerings.  This is more than double its initial enrollment of 106 when it started in 2006.

Enrollment officially started on September 1, 2009 and formal classroom instruction started on September 7, 2009.

The school, which integrated the former KAPHILCA elementary school, the Philippine Learning Center, and KAPHILCA’s high school arm, has been in existence for the past three years in its location at No. 64 Pontou Street, Ambelokipi.

PSG-KAPHILCA is the only Philippine inAthens with permit to operate from the Greek Ministry of Education.  It is the only Philippine school in Europe that is accredited by the Philippine Department of Education to offer the Basic Education Curriculum in all three levels:  preschool, elementary and secondary.

PSG-KAPHILCA is also the only school in Europe that offers a well-balanced Filipino education to the Filipino child, giving equal focus on both the academic and the co-curricular aspects of basic education.

The school’s Tinig Kabataan Choir and its Dance Troupe have undergone rigid training during the past years to the point of professionalism so that the two cultural groups can be on call any time for cultural presentations before Filipino, Greek, and international audiences.

In addition, the school is proceeding with its sports development program. Teams in basketball, volleyball, table tennis, and other sports are being organized and regular weekly trainings have already started at the Zografou municipal gymnasium.  These team which will participate during the Intramural sports competition during the school’s Foundation Day celebrations.

These co-curricular activities are held without prejudicing classroom instruction which will also be intensified to the point of academic excellence.

The new textbooks that the school ordered from the Philippines have arrived and are now awaiting release by the Customs office of Greece.

On the administrative side, the school is pursuing efforts to find a new building suitable for its increasing enrollment and compliant with Greek standards for school buildings.  The school is already authorized by  the Greek government to hire Filipino teachers from the Philippines with family visas.   Its teachers have teaching permits from the Greek Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs.

This school year, the school has institutionalized its scholarship program under the Revitalized Adopt-a-Scholar Program which has secured full-tuition scholarships for 4 years—for 6 children and another 7 partial-tuition scholarships, also for 4 years.  Meanwhile, several more sponsors have pledged additional scholarships.  This is in line with the thrust of the school towards better service rather than profit.

A recent development this school year was the 5-day visit of Department of Education Undersecretary Ramon C. Bacani, upon the invitation of Ambassador Tiglao. He visited the school to check on the school’s compliance with DepEd regulations in connection with the school’s application for permanent recognition  of its elementary and pre-elementary levels.  Both levels have already been granted full permits after the visit of CFO Executive Director Jose Z. Molano Jr. and DFA Minister Dumia, both of the Inter-Agency Committee for Philippine Schools Overseas (IAC-PSO), in May 2006.

Principal Roberto Fresnido, the Faculty, and Staff