MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is encouraging returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are licensed teachers to join the country’s public school system.

Through its program, “Sa Pinas, Ikaw and Ma’am/Sir” (SPIMS), the DOLE gives qualified OFWs a chance to apply for a teaching post with the Department of Education.

The reintegration program is open to migrant workers who have returned in the last 3 years, and practiced the profession in the last 5 years. Those with less or  no teaching experience would have to take an online refresher course.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the program aims to provide a sustainable living for OFWs who wish to come home to be with their families.

“The program has again benefited a new set of former OFWs who are now teachers. We are glad for the beneficiaries because they are already back for good, closer to their families and loved ones, and they now have regular teaching positions in their respective hometowns,” Bello said.

The program also seeks to address the shortage of public school teachers in the country. Education sScretary Leonor Briones said in September 2016 that there are more than 15,000 available teaching positions because of the opening of the senior high school level in the K to 12 program.

Recently, 19 former migrant workers were given plantilla positions in public schools in Central Visayas. The SPIMS beneficiaries used to work as teachers and household service workers in Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey.

Interested OFWs may visit www.nrco.dole.gov.ph for more information. Online forms can be accessed through http://tiny.cc/ofwletpassers. – Rappler.com