EDITORIAL - Losing the workforce

While the nation suffers from an acute lack of schoolteachers and deteriorating English proficiency, Thai students are learning English – from thousands of Filipino teachers. A recent report said about 3,000 Filipinos are currently teaching in Thailand, receiving salaries ranging from the equivalent of P17,000 to P43,000 a month. That’s higher than the basic monthly pay of government doctors in this country — enough incentive for Filipinos to move to a neighboring country that was once at the same development stage as the Philippines, but which has since inched ahead.

It’s not just Thailand that has become a destination for Filipino teachers. Filipinos are teaching various subjects including English in countries such as Cambodia and even in the United States. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the annual increase in the number of schoolteachers still cannot keep up with the exploding student population. A number of those recruited aren’t up to the job, unable even to detect grammatical and factual errors in textbooks — errors that are painstakingly pointed out by the bane of substandard textbook manufacturers, Antonio Calipjo Go.

The exodus of qualified educators is bound to continue as the lack of decent employment opportunities persists. This is the dark side of those glowing economic figures about massive remittances from Filipinos working overseas. There aren’t enough decent jobs to absorb the country’s growing workforce. As recent studies have shown, unemployment is particularly high among new graduates.

The government is providing career counseling so more students will take courses that are in demand in the job market, such as those in information and communication technology. But even when there is a big job demand, such as in education and health services, Filipinos are still leaving for abroad, lured mainly by higher pay. Even if the cost of living is higher in many of these other countries, Filipino workers know they will still have enough left over to send back home. Others leave to escape conflict areas or simply to enjoy the better quality of life that more progressive countries offer. Unless the Philippines can match those attractions, the nation will continue to lose its workforce.