Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Programme (TFETP) has availed 1 096 teaching and teachers assistant posts for foreigners who have an interest of working in Taiwan.
This was revealed by the Press Secretary of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Andrew Chen. The secretary said the programme was going to hire more foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year compared to previous years. Chen said hired 822 people under the programme last year.
“The programme has been launched for some years and this year it will hire more. It will recruit 1 096 this year,” he said.
Chen said TFETP was sponsored by the government of Taiwan’s ministry of education to recruit quality English teachers and assistants to create more opportunities for Taiwanese pupils to learn English in their schools nationwide.
He added that a person interested in applying for the assistant teachers job should hold a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited institution or college.
“English teachers should hold a bachelor’s degree or higher from any university or college and should at least hold a state issued teaching license or certificate. They should have also taught English courses in accredited foreign schools for more than one year and hold the required documents,” he said.
Chen said teaching applicants should have served as a full time teaching assistant of English courses in domestic public schools that participate in the MoEs programme for more than one year.
He added that foreign teachers and assistant teachers have an advantage of earning lucrative salaries based on their education background and positions.
According to the TFETP website, a foreign English teacher’s salary depends on the highest education attainment and teaching experience of the candidate. Salaries of a master’s degree holder start from NT$ 72 760 to 94 980, which is equivalent to E43 925 to E57 340. Holders of a doctoral degree get salaries from NT$ 75 950 to 100 010, which is equivalent to E45 852 to E60 388.
Chen said Taiwan was ranked amongst the most comfortable countries to live in by global institutions. He said the benefits of the job also include flight reimbursement, housing allowances, health insurance, professional support and labour insurance.
He said interested candidates needed a passport, teaching license or proof of qualification, nationwide police clearance/check, statement of purpose, degree certificate, two recommendation letters and a four to six-minute teaching demonstration video.
He added that there was no deadline but once they hire enough teachers or teaching assistants, the programme would close. He said last year’s programme closed in September when the target was reached.
Chen said applications were done only online through their website: https;//tfetp.epa.ntnu.edu.tw/ and they can also be emailed at [email protected].
SNAT says Eswatini to lose more teachers
The Swaziland National Association of Teachers says Eswatini is still to lose more teachers to first world countries due to the working conditions that they are being exposed to.
SNAT Secretary General Lot Vilakati said teachers were getting paid less and were tempted to take better paying jobs in other countries. He said the welfare of teachers and nurses was being neglected in the country, making it a contributing factor to them leaving. “Government is overworking the teachers and now that they have recently introduced the performance management system, we are still going to lose more,” he said. Vilakati added that the teachers who were on the ground were getting thinner and thinner and this was evident on the 4 000 teaching posts available in the country. He said the workload of the remaining teachers was increasing, especially if more than 1 000 teachers would take the offer that was being provided by the Taiwan Foreign English Teachers Programme.
“The reason why teachers are leaving is because there is no civil servant that has no debt because they are earning a living through taking loans,” he said. He advised government to pay teachers accordingly and also make means to return those in the diaspora back into the country. He said government should not be taking likely that teachers were leaving because they were needed in the country. “Teachers who want to go and explore such areas of work should resign and serve the notice so that they do not lose their pension. They should also not take loans and then disappear so that they can return and find that everything is in place,” he said.
Source: observer
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