Ministry cool to teachers from India, Philippines

Employment agencies have begun recruiting English teachers from the Philippines and India, but the Ministry of Education said it will not accept bringing in teachers from these countries.

In a newspaper report yesterday, the ministry said it objects to recruiting from countries in which English is not the native language and in which residents have "non-native" accents.

The report said that recruiters plan to bring in some 20 teachers from the Philippines and India after the Lunar New Year to teach in kindergartens and cram schools because these teachers will work for about half the salary of their Western counterparts.

Agency sources were reported as saying the teachers they want to recruit all have university degrees and teacher's certificates and expect monthly salaries of between US$1,000 and US$1,200.

Their European and American counterparts command monthly salaries of between US$2,000 and US$3,000.

One of the agencies said that as the Philippines and India are also English-speaking countries, the ministry should have no problem with recruits from these countries.

The ministry recently announced plans to pay foreign English teachers with linguistics-based college degrees and a rudimentary command of Chinese double the salaries of Taiwanese English teachers.

The ministry said its plan to import foreign English teachers will be implemented on a trial basis, and is targeted at the US, Canada, the UK and Australia.

A ministry official was reported to have said that since English is not a native language of the Philippines and India, Filipinos and Indians speak English with non-native accents.