LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government wants to rescind agreements with different universities and colleges on international student exchange programs and internships because students availing of the said school-based activity are not being provided with appropriate assistance during emergency situations, like this Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 pandemic.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda said that the experience of a 24-year old exchange student from Lubas was stranded in South Korea and repatriated to the country because she was not given the necessary assistance by the host educational institution is enough reason for the municipal government to consider the rescission of the agreement with different universities and colleges.
He reported the same beneficiary of the international student exchange program tested positive of the deadly virus while undergoing her prescribed 14-day quarantine at the Baguio Teachers Camp and it is the concerned government agencies, the municipal government and her family that are now encountering problems on how to deal with her situation.
“We will work for the rescission of our existing agreements with different universities and colleges to discontinue with our partnership on the implementation of the international exchange program and internship because of our very bad experience on the way stranded students have been treated,” Mayor Salda stressed.
Aside from the fact that the student interns had been left on their own in the host country, the municipal chief executive said it is also burdensome not only to their family members and relatives but also to municipal officials who had to help out in expenses of the beneficiaries in going to their destination to undergo the program as part of the requirements of their chosen course.
He pointed out that the sending school should also be responsible enough in looking after the welfare of their interns to attend to their needs in emergency situations, like the COVID outbreak so that the burden will not be left to the government.
According to him, it is also unfortunate that a number of the beneficiaries of the international student exchange program were not able to complete the required period provided in their agreements because of the lockdown in the countries where they underwent their internships and it took time for them to be repatriated to the country during a time that Luzon was under enhanced community quarantine.
He asserted that schools who deploy their students for international exchanges or for internship should lead in efforts in looking after the welfare of their wards and not to leave government to take care of their needs, especially during emergency situations, because the same should be the responsibility of all concerned.
Salda stated the municipal government will no longer enter into similar agreements in the future so that there will be no repeat of such incident that will compel the municipal government to be responsible for the welfare of stranded students.
By Hent
