By Merlina Hernando-Malipot

Amid growing interest of other countries to hire Filipino teach­ers, the Department of Educa­tion (DepEd) is “not urging” teachers to go abroad but asked them to stay and teach in the Philippines.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones, in an interview with the Manila Bulletin, said if it were for the DepEd, they “would want them [teachers] to stay” in the Phil­ippines and “teach our students, here.”

She issued this statement as other Asian countries such as Thailand and China expressed interest in hiring Fili­pino teachers.

In March, DepEd and the Kingdom of Thailand convened for employment of Filipino teachers for English. Then, in May, the Philippines and China forged enhancement of education, cultural ex­change for interested Filipino teachers.

However, Briones stressed that choos­ing to go abroad and teach or seek other employment is a “basic human right” thus, the DepEd – and even the govern­ment – could not stop teachers who would seek for greener pastures.

Hiring of Filipino teachers

Briones noted that the matter of China’s interest in Filipino teachers is “shared” by other countries as well. “China is not the only country interested in Filipino teacher Thailand for example, likes Filipino teachers because Filipino teachers have a way with children and with learners,” she said.

DepEd, through its International Co­operation Office (ICO), and the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Thailand con­vened a meeting in March to discuss the employment of Filipino teachers for the “English for All” project of the Kingdom of Thailand.

During the meeting, Briones shared that the inter-agency meeting on the proposed Memorandum of Understand­ing (MOU) on the government-to-gov­ernment hiring of Filipino teachers was initiated by Dr. Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, Thailand Minister of Education. The said MOU aims to “improve and promote the international professional exchanges be­tween the two countries.”

In particular, Briones noted that the MOU aims to “uphold” teachers’ protec­tion and welfare, as well as to “facilitate” the recruitment, entry, and exit of Filipino teachers to and from the Kingdom of Thai­land in accordance with the provisions of Thailand and the prevailing laws and reg­ulations of the Philippines, pursuant with the rules and regulations of the different Philippine government agencies.

Secretary to the Minister of Educa­tion of Thailand M.L. Pariyada Diskul, during the meeting, underscored that Thailand has “big projects” with teachers from the Philippines who are “very highly regarded” in the country. “Your teachers are very diligent and blend in well with our culture,” she said.

Diskul said that Thailand wanted to “recruit Filipino teachers” to be placed in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) government schools – which are the three provinces in the eastern side of Bangkok – to “upgrade the English competencies of the children in that area.”

Meanwhile, Briones said that Fili­pino teachers who wish to be trained in the Mandarin language or to teach the English language in China will soon have more education, cultural, and profession­al opportunities.

Briones joined President Duterte in his trip to Beijing in May where discus­sions on the enhancement of cultural and learning exchange between the two coun­tries resulted in action plans and agree­ments, which are projected to benefit the education sector.

In a recent briefing, Briones said request for Filipino teachers by China was made around three years ago. “The interest was not in 10,000 teachers but 50,000 teachers of English and my re­sponse at that time is that, if we have 50,000 teachers of English, we would like to utilize them in the Philippines,” she said. However, she clarified that “there was no agreement” signed when she went to Beijing.

Briones noted that even before talks on hiring Filipino teachers in China, Fili­pino teachers have been going to coun­tries such as United States and other countries.