Philippines/Mapping conventions/Schools

This page documents recommended tagging of schools in the Philippines. This will mainly focus on the public schools, but this page will also provide tagging for private schools, and schools tied to a religion.

Tags

Mapping convention of educational institutions will generally follow the universal conventions at Map Features, but special considerations for the Philippines are listed here

Educational levels

Use the tag isced:level=* to tag the levels of education provided by each institution under the International Standard Code for Education scheme.

• 0 - preschool and early childhood education (nursery, kindergarten)
• 1 - elementary/primary school (grades 1-6)
• 2 - junior high school (grades 7-10)
• 3 - senior high school (grades 11-12)
• 4 - technical-vocational education
• 5 - undergraduate
• 6 - graduate school (masters, doctorate).

Specific grades provided by each institution may be tagged using grades=*. Grade values used in the Philippines general follow those used in the United States, with minor differences:

• N: nursery/preschool
• K: kindergarten. Especially in private schools, it is sometimes subdivided into:
  • JK/K1: junior kindergarten/kindergarten 1
  • SK/K2: senior kindergarten/kindergarten 2
• 1-6: elementary or primary school
• 7-10: junior high school
• 11-12: senior high school
• SP: special education (SPED)
• ALS: Alternative Learning System

School identification numbers (School ID)

Identification numbers designated by the Department of Education (DepEd) for public elementary and secondary schools are tagged as ref=*. Such numbers can be found on the roofs of school buildings, or on signs outside the school grounds. The school identification numbers can be useful for determining school names from the DepEd database, especially in schools mapped from aerial imagery which prominently shows the number.

Naming convention

• The name=* tag would be the name as seen in the entrance of the school. It is usually in English, but it may be in a local language, primarily Filipino. In case both English/Filipino and local names appear on the sign, tag both names, separated by a slash.
• Alternate names/and abbreviated forms of the school's name (whether official or unofficial/colloquial) should be tagged with alt_name=*. In case of schools named after a barangay or city/municipality that is soon renamed to honor a person, the former should be retagged as an alternate name, in case locals still use it, otherwise, use old_name=*
• Never expand abbreviations like "St." to "Saint", "Sta./Sto." to "Santa/Santo", "Dr." to "Doctor", etc., just to comply with the "no abbrevations" rule. If the abbrevation is normally expanded, it is fine to map those as expanded in OSM. If abbrevation is not normally expanded, do not expand them.
• School identification numbers ("school ID"), if found, should be tagged with ref=*. Some can be added from aerial imagery, if visible.