<span class="headline" id="UsrStory1_lblTitleArticle">Education for tourists</span><br><br><span id="UsrStory1_lblBodyArticle">
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<font size="2">EDITORIAL </font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="2">The Philippine Star</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="2">For the past few years, the Philippines has been a favorite destination of Korean students seeking to improve their English proficiency. Special English language schools have been set up in recent years to meet this growing demand. Now the government has announced that it will promote the country as an "education tourism" destination. The government is encouraged by reports that students from
India and China are arriving as well to enroll in Philippine schools. </font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="2">If the government is serious in achieving its goal, it should improve the quality of Philippine education to attract more foreign students. Not too long ago, the country was a top destination for foreign students seeking not just English proficiency but quality education in all subjects. Foreign students went to Los Baņos to earn a degree in agriculture. Philippine schools excelled in almost all disciplines, and the quality of education showed in the skills of the country's workforce.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="2">All this changed as the nation became complacent and education particularly in public schools was neglected. The country has lost its edge in all disciplines. If foreign students are coming here in droves to improve their English proficiency, one major reason is not the high quality of education but the lower tuition rates compared to those in countries such as
Singapore where English is also widely spoken.</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="2">The government should improve the quality of education at all levels not just for foreign visitors but for all Filipinos. In recent years the government has scrambled to reverse the deterioration in the quality of education especially in public schools. Efforts are also being made to improve Filipinos' proficiency not just in English but also in the Tagalog-based national language. So far, progress has been slow; it will take years before the toll of decades of neglect can be fully reversed. As the government promotes education tourism, it should apply as much energy in improving the quality of education for all Filipinos.
</font></span></p></span><br clear="all"><br>-- <a href="http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=83232">http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=83232</a><br>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=<br><br>Harold F. Schiffman
<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br>Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138
<br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br> <a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------