The Department of Labor and Employment on Friday appealed to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are licensed teachers to return to the country and practice their profession as public school teachers.
The labor department’s appeal is in line with the Dole’s OFW reintegration program called “Sa ’Pinas, Ikaw ang Ma’am/Sir,” which allows OFWs who passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers to apply and be employed by the Department of Education (DepEd) as teachers.
“We aim to provide decent and sustainable work for returning OFWs as public school teachers,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.
The program will cover OFWs who returned to the Philippines in the last three years and had teaching experience in the past five years.
Those who have no teaching experience at all, or those whose teaching experience was interrupted for more than past five years, will undergo an online refresher course.
Those interested may check www.nrco.dole.gov.ph, while online application forms are available at https://tiny.cc/ofwletpassers.
The DOLE’s National Reintegration Center for OFWs implements the program with the DepEd, Professional Regulation Commission, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the Philippine Normal University.
Bello noted that the OFW reintegration program has been a good source of public school teachers for the DepEd.
“It has helped ease the country’s insufficient supply of public school teachers especially in the provinces and remote areas,” he said.
The program has also reunited several OFW families after years of separation.
The labor secretary pointed out that 19 OFWs who were licensed teachers have been employed by different public schools in Central Visayas.
The former OFWs used to work as teachers and household service workers in Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
They were hired for permanent positions with a Teacher 1 or Salary Grade 11 rank after having complied with all the requirements.