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Caregiver course opted for employment

BAGUIO CITY (Apr. 14) — “As a student I prefer the quickest process of going abroad, and by enrolling in the caregiver course, I have better chances of landing a job. It is also the easiest way to provide my family a more comfortable way of living life.”

Erlinda Sanchez, 26 years old, from Bangar, La Union and a care giver student of Meridian Paramedical and Technical Institute, said that caregiver courses, compared to four-year courses, give better assurance in employment.

Indeed, the country’s economic crisis pushes Filipinos to search for jobs abroad, which in turn leads caregiver institutions to open.

According to John Panem, Baguio-Benguet Coordinator of the National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP), the caregiver course is a product of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade-World Trade Organization (GATT-WTO) which entails not only the export and import of products but of cheap labor as well by the first world countries.

In the case of college students, Panem said that the strong demand for caregivers abroad encourages students not to pursue a four-year course but to shift to six or seven months courses which will serve as a stepping stone to find jobs in other countries.

This is because the government cannot provide decent jobs to the thousands of graduates every year, he said.

Caregiving

Some people misconstrue that the caregiver course is the same with Nursing, but Brennan Chadras, Officer In-Charge (OIC) of Society for the Improvement of Caregiving and Educational Services (SICES) said that caregiving is an upgrade course for domestic helpers which does not only focus on housekeeping but on enhanced nursing skills. Caregivers in Canada receive a salary ranging from $1,700 or P90,100 per month, Chadras emphasized.

SICES is an accredited institution which has a school based only in Canada. It was first established in 1992 at Edmonton, Canada while the company put up its first branch in the Philippines in Pasay at 1994.

As caregiver institutions earn profit from their numerous enrollees, universities and colleges offering other courses such as Information Technology (IT), Physical Therapy (PT) and others, are greatly affected.

Sure market

In an interview with Josel Florentin, 33 years old, and an instructor of Benguet State University (BSU), he observed that there was a decrease in the number of students enrolled in the university. The government should be aware of the implications of professionals like doctors, nurses, dentist, teachers who now prefer to give services to foreigners rather than to their fellow countrymen, Florentin added.

“The government continues to encourage more Filipinos to go abroad which the NUSP strongly disagrees with,” said Panem. Instead of persuading Filipinos to work abroad, it is better that government should endow enough job opportunities to its citizens, he added.

Panem further stressed that as a replacement to labor export, workers to other countries, government should focus instead on developing its agricultural resources since the country’s economy is still agriculturally based. He added that industrialized countries progressed, by developing its agricultural base.# Pearly Ann F. Ancheta

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