ACHIEVING MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

ACHIEVING MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
THROUGH ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
Richard M. Collado
Even in the midst of continuing impediments to realize the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro called on the world “to show that it can (still) make progress under adverse conditions.
While it is true that the United Nations Organization is making their optimum efforts to mitigate the challenges of the present global condition through these so called MDGs of 2015, countries around the globe should likewise participate and act accordingly in combating the eight major concerns to realize the said goal.
Undeniably, poverty and hunger were identified as two roots of all other global concerns. But these can be addressed side by side with proper education. If we are going to trace history, lack of proper education leads to idleness and uselessness. That is the very reason why education is always the top priority in the country as it has been justified in the national budget. But is quality education really been catered to most of the learners?
In the global arena employment is so competitive. For you to become a world class worker, it is very essential that you need to be proficient linguistically. You should be able to demonstrate both accuracy and fluency, and can use a variety of discourse strategies.
For this reason the government through the Department of Education is launching several programs to meet this demand. Even the private sectors made their own movements. One of which is the ‘Promoting English Proficiency’ (PEP) Project an initiative of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and the Makati Business Club that aims to develop a world-class Filipino workforce with English proficiency that meets high international standards.
"English means jobs," said Rick Santos, AmCham president. "We believe that there are great opportunities in business process outsourcing (BPO), IT-enabled services, software development, and tourism in the country.
With this we can see how important English proficiency works to this aspect. In the country, the proliferation of BPO companies has opened job opportunities to Filipinos. But one of the most important qualifications that a customer representative must possess is the ability to speak with an American intonation. These companies cite Filipinos' cultural inclination towards Americans and their "proverbial" American accent. But take note of this: Russ Sandlin, an American businessman in the Philippines, recently closed his call center in Manila because he said he could not find enough English proficient workers. “Not even 3 percent of the students who graduate college here are employable in call centers,” he complained.
Adding to this, the Department of Education reported that 80 percent of secondary school teachers in the Philippines failed in an English proficiency test in 2007.
So where is the veracity of those claims that the Philippines have a substantial pool of English-proficient workers?
What the government and the industry should do is go back to formal education, a step steadily taken through the House Bill 305: mandating the use of English as the medium of instruction in all academic subjects from Grade 3 onwards and encouraging the use of English as the medium of interaction outside the classrooms to be able to produce citizens who are proficient in English and globally competitive.
The call of the time is employment is equated with English proficiency. In the workplace people can interact and participate actively to issues which make them feel how their dignity was elevated and it help them value life. If we will reach this level, MDGs (End poverty and hunger, Universal Education, Gender Equality, Child Health, Maternal Health, Combat HIV/AIDS, Environmental Sustainability, Global Partnership), eventually be realized even earlier than 2015.