Headquarters ink agreement on upskilling teachers

The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Confucius Institute Headquarters signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the Joint Training of DepEd Teachers for the Master of Arts Major in Chinese Language Teaching (MAEd CLT) at DepEd Central Office on December 3.

The program aims to support the sustainable development of the Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL)-Chinese Mandarin in the public secondary schools. The program, which targets to upskill 300 teachers in the next five years, will be implemented by the Angeles University Foundation of the Philippines and Fujian Normal University of China.

The MAEd CLT scholarship is designed for SPFL Mandarin teachers to enhance their language proficiency and their pedagogical skills in teaching Chinese Mandarin as a foreign language.  This two-year master’s degree program includes six-month studies in China.

Education chief Leonor Magtolis Briones highlighted in her message during the MOA signing that proficiency in language is one of the indicators of a quality education. 

“This program is also in support with the efforts of the department in uplifting the quality of education in the Philippines,” Briones emphasized.

Meanwhile, Chinese Embassy Cultural Counsellor Tian Shanting praised the Department of Education for including Chinese Mandarin to the SPFL. He further stressed that DepEd is one of the key contributors in the promotion of friendly relations between the people of the Philippines and China.

In 2011, Chinese Mandarin was included in the special program for foreign language of the Department of Education through the partnership between the Confucius Institute and the Angeles University Foundation (CI-AUF) in Pampanga.

Since 2011, there have already been 310 trained Filipino teachers to teach Chinese Mandarin. Currently, there are 11,000 secondary students from 93 public secondary schools across the country learning Chinese Mandarin.

Also present in the ceremony were Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio, Director IV for Bureau of Curriculum Development (BCD) Jocelyn Andaya, Chairman Emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ambassador Francis Chua, Confucius Institute at Angeles University Foundation (CI-AUF) representatives and other DepEd officials. (DepEd)