Retooling in foreign languages pushed

A House leader urged the government yesterday to devote more funds for the "foreign language skills retooling" of workers to boost their chances of getting better-paying jobs here and abroad.

Deputy Majority Leader Eduardo Gullas said the Department of Labor and Employment’s Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), in particular, ought to offer short courses in foreign languages.

"Students in vocational schools should be encouraged to take supplemental short course in one or two foreign languages besides English," he said.

He said Tesda should use part of the P200 million it is getting next year in financial aid funds for foreign language scholarships.

To launch foreign language programs, Gullas urged Tesda to forge tie-ups with the cultural centers in the Philippines of Spain, Japan, France, and other countries.

"English remains the core language competency that we have to continuously reinforce. But this should not prevent us from purposely driving more students to learn an extra foreign language," he said.

He said foreign language skills would definitely build up the competitiveness of the country’s labor force abroad.

A recent survey by global market researcher ACNielsen Corp. showed that "73 percent of Filipinos agree that globalization has brought increased job and career opportunities."— Jess Diaz