Skills, not just English, land jobs — DepEd exec

A high-ranking official of the education department in Central Visayas supports the proposed law that seeks to reintroduce English as the primary language of instruction in all school levels, but emphasized skills and not only proficiency in English is important in landing a job.

Carmelita Dulangon, Department of Education regional director, said that the House Bill 1339 authored by Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. of the 1st district of Cebu to boost English competency “of our future labor force and to help high school as well as college graduates to gain and maintain employment.

But Dulangon said that getting a job depends on the skills a graduate has.

“In real life, we may be exposed to a surrounding of non-English speaking citizens and all we can do to be understood is through hand gestures,” Dulangon said.

She cited the Filipino seafarers who are not necessarily working in an environment where English is the dominant language, but have become among the world’s best.

Fluency in English will apply to students of journalism, law school or those who are working in business process outsourcing (BPO) firms.

The bill departs from the current DepEd policy provided by DepEd order 3 series of 2012, requiring the mother tongue as the primary language of instruction in grades 1 -3; and English and Filipino in grade 4 to 10.

The bill wants English to be the medium of instruction starting in grades 4 to 10, in junior and senior high school. /Christine Emily L. Pantaleon, Correspondent