EDITORIAL - Back to teaching

For several years now, the government has been urging teachers who have found employment in other countries to come home. The Duterte administration is renewing the call. It is also urging licensed educators who are back in the country after working overseas to return to teaching.

The Department of Labor and Employment has reminded returning overseas Filipino workers that permanent teaching items are being offered all over the country under the program launched by the DOLE and the Department of Education in the previous administration called “Sa ’Pinas, Ikaw ang Ma’am, Sir.”

Response to the program from teachers-turned-overseas workers in the past years was less than enthusiastic, largely due to the main reason that prompted them to go abroad in the first place. Low pay drove thousands of Filipino teachers to work abroad, with a number of them even accepting jobs as nannies and domestic helpers.

While teachers’ salaries and benefits have gone up in the past years in the Philippines, the rates still cannot compete with those offered by foreign employers especially in prosperous economies. But there are pluses in working in one’s own country, foremost of which is that one need not live apart from one’s family. There is also fulfillment in being able to practice the profession for which you earned a college degree.

While the Aquino administration significantly reduced the shortage of public school teachers, the country can always use more educators, especially the well-trained ones. There are also impoverished areas, particularly in conflict zones, that are in dire need of teachers. But most teachers understandably fear for their safety and refuse to be assigned in such areas.

The government can tweak the “Sa ’Pinas, Ikaw ang Ma’am, Sir” program to lure more OFWs to return to teaching. When the program was launched, concerns were raised about possible delays in the payment of salaries. The requirement for a refresher course for those who lacked teaching experience, or those who have not practiced the profession for a long time, also kept OFWs away. Education officials, who want to recruit quality educators, consider the requirements reasonable.

The refresher course is available online and DOLE officials are hoping more returning OFWs with a license to teach can consider the program. Teaching has long been described as a noble profession. The nation needs teachers, and those with the qualifications are encouraged to meet the need.