Filipino students eye work in the UAE

Dubai: Majority of Filipino high school graduates in Dubai will head home this month to begin their college degrees in the Philippines. But many of them have plans of coming back to Dubai for work or in other countries, fuelling the vicious cycle of migration.

“Around 95 per cent of our 103 graduates will be studying in the Philippines for college. During a survey we conducted, many of them expressed intentions of coming back here to work. Other said they’ll migrate to Canada, US, or UK,” Jenny Gonzales, manager for development and community relations at the United International Private School (UIPS), told Gulf News.

Gonzales, who was the former director of Commission on Filipinos Overseas before coming to Dubai, said this trend should be a cause for concern for the Philippine government as children of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are ending up as OFWs themselves.

“Migration begets migration, that’s the trend. If the parent is an OFW, we’ve noticed that there is a big probability that the child will become an OFW, too,” Gonzales said.

Every day, around 4,500 Filipinos leave the Philippines to work abroad based on government figures. There are about 11 million OFWs worldwide, which represent about 11 per cent of the country’s total population.

Maria Veronica Calderon, this year’s class valedictorian at UIPS, told Gulf News that she plans to study in the Philippines for college but will work in the UAE and later on in Canada.

“I’d like to become a Certified Public Accountant like my dad and mum. Good pay is one of the reasons why I want to work here, and another thing is safety. I feel safer when I’m in the UAE,” Calderon said.

Another reason why Filipino graduates said they would prefer to work abroad, specifically in the UAE, is that they are already used to the system and customs here. Those who grew up in the UAE feel alienated to Philippines and said they are more connected to Dubai.

“To be honest, I do not know how to go about with life in the Philippines if I were to work there. I’m already accustomed to my life here, that’s why I would prefer to work here,” Muna Mohammad Aslam, 15, who wants to become a forensics expert, told Gulf News.

Gonzales noted that most of the graduates have decided on taking IT, engineering, and nursing, which are courses that are usually in demand abroad.