Angara: Reintroduction of Spanish language in PHL schools to boost BPO industry

Senator Edgardo Angara on Wednesday welcomed the small-scale reintroduction of the Spanish language in Philippine education, saying it will boost the country's fast-growing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry.

 

Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on education, arts, and culture, said that the inclusion of the Spanish language in the curriculum of selected public and private schools will pave the way for the integration of the same courses in the 11th and 12th grades of the K to 12 program.

 

With this, he said the Philippines will have more Spanish-speaking graduates which in turn will help boost the country's BPO industry.

 

“If you speak Spanish, you can speak to almost one-third of the world. If you speak Mandarin, English and Spanish, you talk practically to the entire world. That’s how valuable this language is in these modern times,” he said in a statement released Wednesday.

 

“The trend of investment and tourism of Latin America is towards Asia. We ought to catch that wave because now we have a natural destination,” he added.

 

President Benigno Aquino III and Spain's Queen Sofia had likewise welcomed the reintroduction of the language during a dinner in Malacañang on Tuesday night.

 

Angara, who joined the state dinner, said the move will not only create job opportunities for the youth but will also strengthen the Philippines' relations with Spain and other countries as well.

 

The Spanish government, through its cultural arm the Instituto Cervantes, has been sponsoring the training of teachers of Spanish in the Philippines. Angara said 100 teachers have completed the intensive summer training last year.

 

The promotion of Spanish was mandated by ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a fluent Spanish speaker, in 2007.  

 

Last month, Angara had already called on the Philippine government to incorporate Spanish into the basic education curriculum for good.

 

“Implementing this in public high schools all over the country will give students a head start and prepare them for more advanced language classes in college,” he said during the 10th Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day press conference.

 

“Multinational companies and BPOs place a premium on the mastery of Spanish. A lot of BPOs whose clients are in Hispanic countries are looking for fluent Spanish speakers, and are willing to provide a much higher compensation for the value-added skill,” he added. –KG, GMA News