CHEd asks maritime schools to phase out substandard courses

Photo courtesy of CHEd

MANILA, Philippines—Maritime schools that continue to defy government orders to close down substandard training programs are putting all Filipino seafarers in danger of being banned from European Union (EU) member flagged vessels.

Ahead of an EU audit mission this October, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) last month ordered the phaseout of half of the maritime training programs offered by 91 schools since these have not met quality standards.

Some of the affected schools, however, defied the CHEd order, with some resorting to getting court temporary restraining orders (TRO) in order to keep operating.

CHEd Chairperson Patricia Licuanan appealed to defiant schools to stop contesting orders to phase out their substandard programs for the sake of “national interest.”

“This is really in the national interest. It’s the Philippines that will be seen as non-compliant (with global training standards). We’re no longer talking about (individual) school and programs. They certify by country. Even the best schools will be affected,” she said.

“We will all be affected. So don’t get a TRO anymore. This is really in the national interest,” Licuanan stressed.

The Philippines is the current leading supplier of seafarers, with Filipinos comprising about 30 percent of the world’s seafarers, according to government data.

In 2011, remittances from Filipino seamen reached $4 billion.

Last month, representatives from the European Maritime Security Agency (EMSA) reviewed government oversight bodies over maritime training and deployment to check how the government has addressed deficiencies reported in 2010.

In reaction to criticism about multiple oversight bodies, Malacañang designated the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) as the central implementing body of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) for seafarers.

Other agencies involved in maritime training and deployment, including CHEd, were placed under Marina supervision and ordered to align their evaluation standards.

The next round of EMSA inspection is in October where maritime schools will actually be inspected.

“We have too many (programs) of low quality, that’s the underlying problem,” Licuanan said.

“Our seafarers are the best in the world. If the EU is threatening (a ban) it’s because they really want us… to maintain quality,” she added.

The EMSA inspectors will have their choice of schools to inspect, and may choose to inspect the notoriously non-compliant schools.

“We expect we will be prepared for the visits in October. We expect possibly less institutions to be visited because those we ordered for closure will not be there,” Licuanan said.

She said CHEd has taken steps to add more assessors after the EMSA team observed that 91 maritime schools can not properly be monitored if CHEd had only two to five full-time staff members.

“That’s a legitimate point so we’re doing catch up, we’re getting other personnel from other CHEd offices,” Licuanan said.

She said the EMSA team also observed that having assessors come from the industry or the academe might lead to a conflict of interest.

Licuanan said she explained that experts have been coming from the industry or the academe, since there is no separate profession for assessors.

“We’re in a better position because we know exactly which are the observed weaknesses,” Licuanan said.

“We will cooperate with whatever it takes. There’s no more turfing,” she added.