Philippines, China to enhance education, cultural exchange for Filipino teachers 

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino teachers who would want to be trained in Mandarin Chinese or teach English in China will soon have more education, cultural and professional opportunities.

Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones recently joined President Rodrigo Duterte in his trip to Beijing, China where the enhancement of cultural and learning exchange between the two countries were made.

In a statement on Tuesday, the DepEd said foremost in the proposed education exchange is the expanded training in Mandarin Chinese of Filipino teachers.

“What both countries want is an acceleration of this exchange because so far, nearly 300 teachers have already been trained in the Mandarin language at the Confucius Institute here in the Philippines. They have formal lessons here and then they go to China for exposure visits,” Briones said.

While China is interested in hiring around 2,000 Filipino teachers, Briones said the recruitment process will still have to undergo several talks to ensure the quality, compensation, benefits and welfare of Filipino teachers who will be employed.

However, Briones cautioned this still has to be discussed because the Philippines also needs English teachers.

“This has to be discussed very carefully because we also need our English teachers here. The matter of where you want to work, where you want to reside, where you want to pursue a profession, is a free choice. It is a choice that has to be made by the teacher,” Briones said.

“What we want to assure is that the teacher is well-protected. Even as we protect the teachers, we also protect our country and its needs. In terms of public school teachers, we have to look at our own supply of teachers. We are not urging them, they make a choice; it’s a universal human right,” she added.

Apart from giving opportunities to Filipino teachers, the DepEd said the training expansion is also expected to improve the teaching-learning process of Filipino students who are taking Mandarin Chinese as an elective subject under the agency’s Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL) program. /muf