Guidelines for deployment of Filipino teachers to China signed

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Philippine Education Secretary Leonor Briones gestures as she poses with teachers who attended a financial literacy summit in Quezon City. (Source: DepEd)

MANILA—Government officials have signed the implementing guidelines of the planned deployment of Filipino English teachers to mainland China, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said.

The Joint Implementing Guidelines on the Employment of Filipino Teachers of English Language in China were signed on Nov. 8 and they include a provision barring public school teachers from applying to avoid a shortage in the Philippines.

According to the guidelines, Filipino teachers who want to apply for English teaching jobs in the mainland should have the following qualifications:

*Must be employed by private higher education institutes in the Philippines;

*Must not be currently employed in public institutions in the Philippines;

*Must have obtained a Bachelor’s Degree or above from normal universities or in education or English language from Philippine educational institutions accredited by the Ministry of Education of the PRC (People’s Republic of China);

*Must have a valid certificate of registration above intermediate level and professional license issued by the Philippine Board of Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers;

*Has not been charged or convicted of any crime or administrative offense;

*In good health condition;

*Has no mental disease or pernicious habits such as drug addiction and excessive drinking as certified by the Filipino teacher;

Earlier, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said at least 2,000 English teachers are needed for the program. According to the guidelines, the number of Filipino teachers who can enter China will be based on the “actual situation of market supply and demand determined through negotiations between the Philippines and China.”

“This quota shall be determined annually,” the guidelines said.

Bello and Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua signed in April the initial Memorandum of Understanding on the deployment of English teachers to China.

Bello said the salary of the teachers who will be deployed ranged from US$1,400 (P74,200) to US$1,600 (P84,800).