Four ambassadors paid a courtesy call on Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte to discuss possible initiatives to strengthen the relationship between their countries.
In separate meetings, Duterte met Italian Ambassador Marco Clemente, Irish Ambassador William John Carlos, Vietnamese Ambassador Hoang Huy Chung, and Lao Ambassador Songkane Luangmuninthone on Wednesday, Aug. 17, at the DepEd Central Office in Pasig City.
During a courtesy call, Clemente sought the cooperation of Duterte to help expose and educate Filipino learners on Italian culture.
Culture, Clemente said, is an “important part of education.” By exposing the youth to culture, “they will be able to pass this knowledge and passion to the next generation.”
After the courtesy call, Clemente hopes that the Philippines and Italy will be able to do “something jointly to promote culture among the younger generation.”
Duterte, on her part, recognized the importance of exposing learners to culture.
During the meeting, she shared that Clemente talked about opera --- among other possible partnerships.
“I’m sure many of our students from our School of the Arts will be excited,” Duterte said. “We hope to sit down soon with regard to the collaboration on this,” she added.
Meanwhile, Duterte and Carlos have discussed the previous experiences of both countries to improve the quality of education among their youth.
Duterte, on the other hand, thanked Vietnamese Ambassador Hoang Huy Chung for “always standing beside the Philippines.”
She also thanked the Vice President of Vietnam who “expressed interest to visit the Philippines again” --- especially Metro Manila and Davao City.
During her meeting with Lao Ambassador Songkane Luangmuninthone, Duterte said that the use of “English as medium of instruction” was tackled.
“We discussed the importance of the English language as a medium of instruction in schools because we see that around the ASEAN nations, it is usually the Filipinos who are English teachers,” she said.
Duterte also shared that they also talked about the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) visiting Laos “so that we can invite more university students to study here in the Philippines and of course looking forward to visiting Laos.”