THE COMMISSION on Higher Education and the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh launched the ‘Developing Global Filipino Teachers’ program to equip, capacitate, and enhance competencies of Filipino teachers in Cambodia.

CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera III and Chargé d’Affaires Myca Magnolia Fischer forged the program through a Memorandum of Cooperation on Friday as part of the government’s initiative to capacitate and qualify OFWs for meaningful and gainful work as teachers in Cambodia.

De Vera hopes this will help teachers get jobs in Cambodia and at the same time, ensure higher salaries.

“The Philippine Embassy in 2019 alerted CHED on the plight of some 1,152 Filipinos working as teachers in Cambodia. Majority of these teachers are not licensed to teach because they lack the proper credentials,” De Vera said.

Responding to this, the commission came up with a Memorandum of Cooperation for the realization of professionalization of the 1,006 teachers who are not licensed professional teachers in order for them to compete and receive higher salary.

The Developing Global Filipino Teachers program is a collaboration among CHED, the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh, and Philippine universities that are centers of excellence in teacher education namely,  Saint Paul University, Cebu Normal  University, and the Philippine Normal University.

Under the developing global Filipino teachers program, the following OFWs in Cambodia will be assisted with 1) professionals who are not graduates of the teacher education program and intend to take the Philippine licensure examination for teachers; 2) in-service teachers who want to enhance their competencies and their  impact in the classroom and beyond to understand global issues; 3) graduates of education program but have not passed the Philippine LET; 4) and those Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

“We cannot emphasize the importance of higher education in playing a critical role in the development of our citizens here and abroad.  This Memorandum of Cooperation produces better collaboration and easier grasp of the problem at hand.  The solution is now within our reach, thanks to the Developing Global Filipino Teachers program,” De Vera said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. lauds the program and said that despite the pandemic, CHED as well as the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh have come up with a scheme that will ensure not only the employability of the teachers but develop their skills further.

Locsin added he wants to see the same program being implemented in other parts of the globe.

“This program is one of the manifestations of the Filipino bayanihan spirit, driving Philippine higher education during this Covid19 crisis.  We grappled with the pandemic individually, but we will conquer it together as one — a one unified higher education sector and government,” De Vera said.

The virtual launching was attended by Locsin; Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh Chargé d’Affaires Myca Magnolia Fischer;  Cebu Normal University President Filomena Dayagbil; St. Paul University of the Philippines President Merceditas Ang, SPC; Dr. Lordinio Vergara, Philippine Normal University Vice President for University Relations and Advancement; and representatives  from the Teachers Learning Action Guild of Cambodia (organization of Overseas Filipino Teachers in Cambodia).