Poor proficiency in English

THERE is one harsh reality about our college graduates today that government doesn’t speak of, or perhaps our government is simply on a denial mode.

There is the worsening high failure rate of our college graduates in passing basic English proficiency tests. This was indicated by a recent report that 90 percent of 200 Filipino nurses recently failed an English language test required to work at a hospital in the United Kingdom.

If that is the situation with our nursing graduates, could the rest of our graduates majoring in any degree be any different?

With the recent designation of Dagupan City as a PEZA center for BPOs (call centers), Pangasineses cannot take advantage of the opportunity fully if our colleges and universities do not adopt measures to improve our students’ proficiency in the English language.

It was enough to alarm Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy who correctly pointed out, “The Philippines is a country that flaunts its English competence but apparently that assertion is a balloon full of hot air when it comes to the English competencies of our nursing graduates.”

It behooves the Dagupan City and provincial government to meet with tertiary education sector to discuss what measures can be adopted to address the urgency to equip and fully prepare Pangasinan graduates for BPOs.

 

Beyond corporate social responsibility

It is known that a number of giant corporations are giving back to communities that supported their growths and success, but unknown to many, there is one corporate man, in fact, the biggest single donor defending the republic against ISIS-inspired terrorists who’s doing a lot more. He’s none other than RSA or Ramon S. Ang, the president and CEO of San Miguel Corp. Without fanfare, he shelled out P1 million each to the families of the 164 soldiers who died in battle from his own pocket – or a whopping P164 million.  Then he also pledged P1 billion to help rebuild a badly shattered Marawi. Some years back, again, minus fanfare, he tossed in P500 million to help build homes for homeless victims of that super typhoon in Cagayan de Oro.

And when he donated a hospital to Ateneo inside its campus worth P477 million, the Jesuits insisted it be named Ramon S. Ang Hospital. He vehemently refused.  The Jesuits relented and named it “Ang Hospital” —literally “The Hospital” when translated to English.  A bit outsmarted, RSA just smiled.

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