Success in BPO means focusing on English skills

When I read a news item that the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) recently turned over 12 newly-repaired classrooms in the towns of Badian and Boljoon that would benefit more than 350 pupils, a report like this immediately sends the message that our government hasn’t really addressed the most basic problem plaguing our country, which has a direct relation in our being a poor or a 3rd world country; education or the lack of it!

RAFI’s P2.4 million to fix those classrooms also shows how the private sector or the non-government office (NGO) are so well-prepared in their rehabilitation programs that they are able to turn over these finished facilities long before the closing of the school year. Yet we know that when the opening of school opens in June, the Department of Education (DepEd) will once more give parents the standard excuse which ranges from lack of funds to lack of materials, but never the lack of effort to fix this decades-old problem that has led our country from being the top in Asia, as far as education is concerned, to the bottom of the rankings as the best schools in Asia.

That our economic growth is linked to our education growth is something we must learn to embrace. Last Sunday, The Philippine Star came up with an editorial entitled “Sustaining Growth” and let me quote excerpts from that editorial to ram home my point.

Business process outsourcing is expected to grow into a US$100 billion-a-year industry within 10-years, representing a huge chunk of the global BPO pie…. BPO growth is indeed robust and English speaking Filipinos have edge in this sector over other developing countries. But for that optimistic Malacañang projection to be achieved, the country must do its homework. Already there are troubling signs that growth in this promising sector could stall. Thousands of BPO jobs cannot be filled for lack of individuals with sufficient English proficiency and other required skills.”

Let me refresh your memories once more that our English proficiency deteriorated during the 20-years of Marcos draconian rule, especially when it embraced that old Jacobinist thought that Marcos embraced and translated into Tagalog into a program dubbed “Isang Bansa, Isang Diwa!” Right after the EDSA Revolt in 1986, we expected a massive change when Tita Cory took over the presidency. Tita Cory indeed removed anything that Marcos touched, but surprisingly, she kept his pro-Tagalog language policy.

Worse of all, she even did what Marcos didn’t dare do … sign a presidential proclamation making Tagalog, which she believes is called Filipino as the official, medium of communication in the country! That means if you were to write to Tita Cory in Malacañang, you must write in Tagalog. This incensed many Cebuanos to the point that then Gov. Emilio “Lito” Osmeña filed a case in court to prove that the national language has yet to be declared as it hasn’t yet evolved. Gov. Lito won that case in court!

It was in the 6-year reign of Tita Cory that instead of joining the Asian Tigers, the Philippines started to decline and with it our English proficiency. As the Phil. Star editorial pointed out, “English proficiency is not acquired overnight. If the government wants sustained growth in the BPO sector, it should improve English education particularly in public schools, where most of the students do not speak English at home. School training in information and communication technology must be improved, with universal access to the Internet a goal for the near future.”

So the government’s focus must be crystal clear, first and foremost is fix whatever is needed to be fixed in our schools and if need be, build new schools. But above all, we must erase the old Marcosian and Cory thinking about our language policies, where often you can see signs in school campuses that would fine students speaking their native tongues or English. That the Koreans are here by the hundreds of thousands to learn English is something that we should appreciate… that they are still in the Philippines despite our very much deteriorated English skills. But it is not too late for the Philippines, but it does take a Herculean on the part of DepED and its teachers not only to teach English in schools, but to speak it in everyday conversation. If at all there is a ray of hope, listening to FM radio stations like Dy-IO or Y-101 can undoubtedly improve your English skills. But nothing beats the use of English when speaking to friends.

If there is something I really would like to know from Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III I would like to ask him that if he is elected President, will he revert to the Language policies that was imposed during the time of his mother Pres. Cory Aquino? Noynoy is running on the platform of change and I can only wish that this would be a change for the better, rather than a commitment to change that would only bring us back to the past!

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