Due to serious budget concerns, hundreds of Filipino teachers at the Prince

Due to serious budget concerns, hundreds of Filipino teachers at the Prince George County (PGC) Schools in Maryland will be laid off and Filipino-American groups have started campaigns to save these teachers from arbitrary dismissals.

Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC) head and lawyer Arnedo Valera said he had requested PGC’s school board to impose a non-discriminatory standard when terminating teachers, according to MHC Chronicle.

“Work dismissals must be based on performance and work evaluations, and not on the basis of ethnicity or nationality,” said Valera, who is also the UN representative for immigration, global security, and peace under the auspices of the Foundation for the Support of the United Nations.

Filipino teachers who have working visas feared that their visas would not be renewed and they would be forced to go back home to the Philippines. The teachers complained of discrimination and they reiterated that they must be retained based on their performance and seniority.

The Pilipino Education Network (PEN) has started campaigns to support the Filipino teachers. They also provided legal assistance to the teachers. PEN wrote to PGC board to stop terminating the teachers as these Filipino teachers are well-qualified and highly competent.

Most of these teachers also got a three-year contract to teach in schools in Maryland. Many of these teachers paid agencies high fees and sold their properties in the Philippines to work as teachers in Maryland. They dreamed of a better future in America and invested their talents and money to get a working visa in the U.S.

MHC and PEN have asked the schools to sponsor the teachers to get their green cards and be permanent residents as they are helping to mold the minds of American youth through their meaningful teaching and category_iding of students.

The Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. has also extended help to these teachers through Labor attaché Luzviminda Padilla, Consul Corina Apostol, and Atty. Loy Cortel, who have expressed support to the teachers.

By Contessa Rita Bourbon, Filipino Express