A total of 612 aspiring public school
teachers among Hong Kong-based Filipinos have been approved by the Professional
Regulation Commission to sit for the Special Licensure Examination to held in
the city at the end of September.
The complete list of both qualified
examinees this year for the annual licensure exam has been uploaded on the Facebook
page of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
There are potentially 319 elementary
teacher examinees this year from Hong Kong compared with 215 last year. For
secondary teachers, 293 have qualified for the test, including six who will be
taking the exam in the Philippines.
Gemma A. Lauraya, president of the National Organization of Professional Teachers – Hong Kong Chapter, noted that the list may have grown longer this year because of the SPIMS program of the government.
SPIMS, or “Sa Pinas Ikaw ang Ma’am, Sir,”
is a joint program of the Department
of Labor and Employment, National Reintegration Center for OFWs and the
Department of Education and Culture to encourage teachers who had gone abroad
to work as domestic helpers to return home and teach.
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| This year's LET may be held again at Delia Memorial School -Hip Wo in Kwuntong because of its facilities that are ideal for the exam. |
Education
Undersecretary Jesus Mateo had said last year that 81,000 new teachers’ posts would
be added this school year to the Philippines’ public school system because of
the Kindergarten to Grade 12 program that extended the number of years of
learning for students before they can go to college.
POLO has not yet announced the venue for the
exam, but it is likely to be held at Delia Memorial School -Hip Wo in Kwun Tong because of its facilities that are ideal for the exam.
Lauraya
said final coaching sessions organized by NOPT and handled by Carl Balita
Review Center will be held this Sunday and on Sept 16. She said more than 250 teaching
aspirants have been attending the review classes.
“Sana lang,
better results this year than in previous years,” said Lauraya when asked about
her expectations for the passing rate this year. Only 13% of the 460 who sat
for the exam last year have passed, a poor performance compared with around 50%
the first time the LET was held in Hong Kong several years back.
Lauraya
said the venue this year is likely to be Delia Memorial School-Hip Wo in Kwun
Tong, the site where the Civil Service Examination was held in November 2016
and the LET in September last year.
“Most
likely Delia ulit po iyan, kasi yung facilities po, eh,” she said. In terms of
pricing, Delia charged $40,000 for the use of its classrooms and facilities
last year, compared with the hefty $200,000 that POLO paid for an exhibition
hall at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in 2016.
Lauraya
said she had received messages from individuals who could not find their names
on the list. She said this could be due to problems with the new directives on
payment of the exam fee or discrepancies in their documents that led to their
applications missing the deadline for submission.
She said
three are missing from the list and a few others have commented on her post
that their names had been misplaced on the list.
For
instance, there were those who indicated they would sit for the Social Studies
test but were now on the list for Technology and Livelihood Education, Lauraya
said.
