Vietnam’s HCM City finds hard to hire Philippine teachers of English

VietNamNet Bridge – Despite being highly appreciated, HCM City is facing many difficulties in realizing its plan to hire Filipino teachers of English. 

A good plan

Most schools in HCM City applauded the municipal Department of Education and Training's plan to hire Filipino teachers and upgrade study facilities for high school and vocational students for the 2011-2020 periods.

In recent few years, several schools in the city have hired foreign teachers from language centers with their own funds.

Schools have faced several obstacles including unqualified teachers, problems with expired work permits and controversial labor contracts.

Some schools had to change native English teachers from three to four times per year, leading to unstable teaching.

In other cases, some schools want to hire foreign teachers but they have failed as the schools lack recruitment experience. 

The department's plan is expected to help ensure teacher quality, their legal status and stable working conditions.

Vo Thi Ngoc Thu, head of Office for Education and Training in District 5 said the plan would provide major help to local schools, as it would especially increase student comprehension and speaking skills. These teachers would attend classes run by local teachers and take part in outdoor activities to share teaching experience.

Challenges

Despite the ambition, HCM City has found it difficult to realise the plan due to financial issues.

The plan said schools had to call on parents to contribute to pay for foreign teachers and share half of the funding for the purchases of teaching facilities.

This means that each student would have to pay VND120,000 (USD5.75) per month for foreign teachers and from VND500,000-VND2 million (USD23.96-USD95.87) for equipment purchases.

Several principles said that it the plan would be more feasible with the funding from the municipal government as students from poor families could not afford such fees.

The parents of some students from better-off families are more worried about teacher quality than financial issues. Some have sent their children to language centers which charge VND70,000-VND80,000 (USD3.35-USD3.83) per month.

Pham Thi Thuy Ha, principle of Nguyen Van Troi Primary School in District 4 said over 400 students at the school are pursuing English study at language centers. In order to realize the plan, it was necessary to expand the numbers of targeted students.

Due to the modest number of students registering to study with Filipino teachers, some schools shared funding to hire a teacher to save expenses.

As a result, some schools have refused to join the plan. Some local offices for education and training which have signed contracts with foreign teachers are struggling to find classes.

100 Filipinos recruited to teach English in HCM City

 HCM City's education sector school system has hired 100 teachers from the Philippines to teach English at primary, secondary and high schools beginning in November, according to the city's Department of Education and Training.

Le Hong Son, head of the department, said the teachers, all of whom have university degrees in education, would also share their knowledge about effective teaching methodologies and supplemental activities with Vietnamese teachers of English.

The teachers will be paid VND40 million (US$2,000) per month and teach 35 class sessions per week.

The People's Committee initially had agreed to subsidies 50 per cent of the total costs to pay salaries, but on August 7 city leaders reversed that decision.

Instead, schools that want to hire the teachers should ask students' parents to contribute to the costs, the committee suggested.

Because of the limited number of Filipino teachers, schools that want to hire one or more of the teachers must register with the department, Son said.

The city's education department plans to hire more teachers if the plan proves successful.

The goal is to improve the English proficiency of students in primary, secondary and high schools.

Most high schools and universities in the Philippines offer instruction in English and use an American curriculum.

VNN/DTriNews/VietNamNet/VNS

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Chinese & other 4 foreigners, 11 Filipinos sued for illegal mining in Misamis Oriental

Mudslide in Pantukan for unregulated and illegal mining in the Philippines

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Northern Mindanao has sued four foreign nationals and 11 Filipinos and their companies for alleged illegal gold mining activities along the Iponan River.

MGB regional director Rex Monsanto said Friday he and lawyer Christine Lu, the bureau's legal officer here, filed the charges before the city prosecutors' office and the Misamis Oriental prosecutor's office.

Those charged, identified with KFNET Corp., were Koreans Kim Hyo Soeg and Kim Hyong; and Filipinos Oliver Paningbatan, Zarex Ramirez, Elmer del Rosario, Leo Ching and Onofre Contreras.

On the side of the Philippine Long Sangda Mining Corp., charged were Chinese nationals Yuan Xue Song and Huang Ying Yiang; and their Filipino associates Johnry Loreja, Lucille Sy, Janette Go Sy, Roberto Buniales, Marilou Alquizar and Ivy Edong.

Monsanto said the 15 were identified as directors or incorporators of the companies conducting illegal gold mining operations along the Iponan River, based on documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Monsanto said the MGB filed the complaint against KFNET at the provincial prosecutor's office after they were able to determine through GPS tracking that the firm was operating in the Opol, Misamis Oriental side of the Iponan River.

Philippine Long Sangda, on the other hand, was found to have been operating in the Cagayan de Oro side of the river, he said.

Monsanto said the MGB had ordered the companies to stop their activities as early as February but they ignored it.

He said the MGB had acquired pieces of evidence, including photographs and documents, which showed that the companies continued to operate despite the cease and desist order.

City prosecutor Fidel Macauyag said he would carefully study the MGB complaint and help the bureau in building a strong case against the suspects based on an order given by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

De Lima was here recently and had instructed prosecutors to help in strengthening cases against illegal mining activities.

Incidentally, Macauyag was the same prosecutor who dismissed the illegal mining complaint filed by the environment watchdog Sulog against two Chinese nationals last week "on the basis of technicalities."

The suspects, Zong Hengyuan and He Jiancheng, were arrested in late October by the multi-sectoral task force against mining, which included Sulog, for illegal mining activities along the Iponan River.

Inquirer 

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Google with Globe Introduces Free Services for Not-So-Smart Phones in the Philippines

Even if President Aquino didn't have a fancy phone, he could enjoy some smartphone-esque features. Photo: Reuters. 

The Philippines may have one of the most wired populations in Southeast Asia—with a mobile-phone penetration of 100%—but only a minority can afford the latest smartphones and the hefty data plans that accompany them.

Google, in partnership with local telco Globe Telecom, is hoping to change that—allowing users of even the most basic Internet-enabled phones access to some smartphone-esque functions they once envied. Launched in Manila Thursday and unique to the Philippines, Free Zone powered by Google lets them check their Gmail inboxes and use the tech giant's search functions, all for free.

Free Zone's offerings—the ability to surf websites, check Gmail and use the Google+ social-media app—is undoubtedly stripped down from the myriad of functions that smartphone users enjoy, and limited to the staple offerings that define Google.

Gmail, for example, won't be as sophisticated as the versions that run on iPhones, Android-powered smartphones and RIM's Blackberry devices. And Free Zone users can't surf the Web for free by typing websites into their phone's browser; they have to go through Google's search function.

Still, the new software—available only to Globe subscribers—will bring the mobile Internet to many more in the Southeast Asian nation without worry about the availability of WiFi or heavy data charges.

"The open Web is only as open as it is affordable," said Abdel Karim Mardini, a product manager at Google. "We're hoping Free Zone will make the mobile Internet feel like a necessity that everyone can use, rather than a luxury."

Google declined to say whether it or its partner, Globe Telecom, will be footing the data costs of Free Zone, initially available to more than 30 million Globe subscribers until the end of March, but says it designed applications accessible via Free Zone not to be too taxing in terms of data or the phone's processing power. Plans for the service after March 2013 remain undecided.

Multinationals are increasingly trying to tap Southeast Asia's growing consumer class—not just people with incomes allowing for leisure holidays and the latest Blackberry or iPhone models, but budget conscious, low-income earners who are benefitting from high growth rates and record foreign investment.

In the Philippines, mobile is a growing phenomenon; it's the 12th largest mobile phone market in the world, according to a report by Mobile Monday, an open community of those in the industry that shares market trends and reports on mobile growth. The penetration rate will soon surpass 100%, with some Filipinos owning more than one handset. Still, only about 30% use smartphones, which means companies like Google and local telcos have huge untapped opportunities in mobile internet connectivity.

Google hopes to introduce the technology to more countries in coming months. For now, Globe subscribers in the Philippines can access Free Zone through http://libre.ph on the phone's default browser, or text LIBRE to 8888 on their phones.

The Wall Street Journal

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