Two legislators on Wednesday urged education authorities and school administrators to avail of the expertise of highly-skilled and educated migrant workers who were forced to come home by restrictions imposed to contain the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic.
Party-list Rep. Jocelyn Tulfo of ACT-CIS, vice chairman of the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs and member of the Committee on Social Services, said the maritime colleges, training centers, and senior high schools can be hired as seamen, while HRM and culinary schools can hire as faculty members the chefs, cooks, banquet crew, and housekeeping staff of cruise ships.
“There could be call centers that could be in need of these skilled and professional overseas workers as specialists or subject matter experts with international work experience. BPOs can offer compensation and benefits packages that are higher than what most Filipino employers can offer,” Tulfo said.
Jobs must be found for displaced OFWs since the COVID-19 restrictions on travel and other activities may last for another two years or more, she added.
Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles echoed Tulfo’s suggestion even as he reiterated his call to the Department of Education to also find ways to provide parents with skills on how to supervise the homeschooling of their children.