BEIJING—After the renewal of bilateral ties between the Philippines and China following President Rodrigo Duterte’s assumption of office, Beijing has set its sights on hiring Filipino teachers to teach in Mainland universities, said Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana.
Although there are already Filipino teachers in China, Sta. Romana said majority of them are handling preschool and grade school levels.
He said the Chinese education officials are now coordinating with their counterparts in the Philippines’ Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education with regard to the qualification of the English Filipino teachers who can work in China.
“They are laying the ground work. As long as you have qualification, meaning college degrees particularly in teaching English, not only in elementary and high school but also in university. You have to have competitive degree,” said Sta. Romana.
He related that talks are underway and Chinese authorities are conducting studies on how to handle this. “They are asking their counterpart agencies from the Philippines,” he added.
“They laid the groundwork, meaning college degrees particularly in teaching English or education that you can actually teach not only in elementary and high school and also in the university if you have that competitive degree,” he also said.
Sta. Romana said China is now planning to open opportunities for Filipinos’ legitimate employment as English teachers.
“They expanded their definition of English-speaking countries. Because before, the concentration was native-speaking. And included therein is any country where English is taught. They said native-speaking countries and countries that were colonized by these English-speaking countries,” Sta Romana told visiting Filipino journalists in China during an interview at the Philippine Embassy in Beijing.
Under the expanded definition, he said the Philippines is included because it was colonized by the US colony and English is taught and spoken widely in the country.
The ambassador said he still does not know how many Filipino teachers will be hired in China because it has not yet been specified by the Chinese government.
However, he is confident that the hiring of Filipino teachers to work in China will “soon” be finalized.
“Unlimited but they haven’t specified. The talks are still going on. They want to know how we do it, the government exam for teachers if you have passed that, what qualifications we used in our own education system so they can use it for reference.”
“So when the time is ripe and I think it will happen soon, they will announce as long as you have these qualifications and you’re from the Philippines, you can compete with other countries that are applying for jobs here,” he added.
She said China also plans to hire “English-speaking” Filipino domestic workers. Hd said the Chinese have learned from Hong Kong, where thousands of Filipino domestic workers are helping families raise children.
“The Chinese upper middle class are learning from Hong Kong. They want to hire nannies who can teach their kids English, so English-speaking domestics,” he said.
“But perhaps not in the same scale as Hongkong because there’s a surplus of Chinese labor that you’re competing with so it’s very tight, the control, but they’re loosening it,” he added.
The ambassador attributed China’s interest in hiring Filipino teachers to the renewed China-Philippines ties under the Duterte administration.
“That is part of it. In a sense, what they are trying to do is how, to the basic approach, to help out the Philippines development like in infrastructures, investment, trade and also labor opportunities,” he said.