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Maids work to teach, teachers work as maid Special report First of three-part series By CARL MARC RAMOTA of Bulatlat.com
Teachers who are supposed to supply the brain––so to speak––for the country’s youth are themselves part of the brain drain. The country produces enough of these professionals to arrest the worsening teaching shortage but more and more of them go abroad––or stay in the country––to work as housemaids. IN THE PHILIPPINES, education is the second most popular college program. Every school year, more than 400,000 college hopefuls aspire to become teachers. Yet the education sector suffers from a severe shortage of teachers. This year alone, the country lacked some 38,535 teachers. And the figure is projected to reach 49,699 in the coming school year. Practically almost all tertiary or college level institutions in the country offer a degree in Teacher Education. From school years 1994-1995 to 2001-2002, enrolment for Education and Teacher Training went up by 46.20 percent – numbering 439,549 in 2001. However, records of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) show that only a fraction among the thousands who flock to Teacher Education are able to attain their dream profession. Specifically, only a little more than a 100,000 education students reach the fourth year. And of the more than 100,000 who graduate, only a few pass the licensure exams. The 2003 Licensure Examinations for Teachers (LET) only registered a 26 percent passing rate – or conservatively, 26,000 - in both elementary and secondary education. This is a far cry from the number of those who enroll every year (at least 400,000); it represents only 25 percent of those who graduate. Bigger pains But this is where the bigger frustration arises: Many of those who manage to pass the LET do not actually teach in the country. Some of them eventually abandon their profession in favor of jobs that are available here or abroad. This makes the education sector one of the major professions severely hit by the decades-old brain drain in the country. Reports show that of the current crop of teachers, the best and the brightest are now teaching abroad. Many of them are also leaving to work as domestics in other countries. Those who cannot leave – including many from the TEACHER/PAGE 11
JOURNALISTS from Maguindanao, North Cotabato, and South Cotabato flew lanterns to pay their respect over the passing of DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo. He was one of the instrumentals in the immediate capture and filing of cases to those responsible for the bloody Maguindanao massacre where 32 media practitioners were among those killed. Photo by Amiel Mark Cagayan
CAAP forms body from aviation sector to probe Robredo plane crash THE Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Director General, Retired General William K. Hotchkiss, has issued Authority Order 223-12 assigning Capt. Amado Soliman, chief of the CAAP accident investigation board, to chair a committee composed of industry experts to investigate the plane crash that killed Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, pilot Jessup Bahinting, and Nepalese co-pilot Kshitz Chand.
The formation of the expert committee is the latest in the series of actions the CAAP has taken after Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas ordered an “exhaustive investigation” into the ill-fated Piper Seneca plane that crashed about 800 meters off the shores of Masbate. The CAAP earlier formed a composite team to immediately collect evidence pertaining to the crash. It also started its
probe on Aviator Air, operator of the Piper Seneca plane used by Robredo. CAAP has like wis e grounded all aircraft used by Aviator Air pending the result of the investigation. The committee headed by Soliman is co-chaired by vice chairman Capt. Beda B. Badiola. Its members include retired General Ramon A. Ragasa (representing general aviation sector), Capt. Felipe L. Timola, Jr. (representing airline industry), and Col. Allen T.
Paredes (representing military aviation sector). The “Special Investigation Committee … representing the various sectors of the Philippine aviation is hereby constituted and tasked to pursue the investigation surrounding the accident of RP-C4431,” Authority Order 223-12 read. Badiola is a PAL senior vice president, Ragasa is a retired PAF general, Timola is Cebu Pacific Airlines director for safety, while CRASH/PAGE 11
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