The Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education (BMCOE) has donated million worth of school equipment to Philippine public schools and, in exchange, its 50 Korean teachers will be trained in English, Math and Science programs in the country.

President Arroyo witnessed yesterday the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the education office of Busan, the second largest city in South Korea, and the Philippine government in Malacañang. "This day marks another step towards stronger relation of the Philippines to the Korean government with the signing of the MOU," a Palace statement read. The signatories of the MOU were City Mayor of Busan Dr. Seol Dong-geun and Sung-gi Vocational School principal Woo Singgo for the South Korean side. The Philippine government was represented by Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri, TESDA director general Augusto Syjuco, Philippine Ambassador Donald Dee, and Department of Education undersecretary Ramon Bacani. Under the MOU, the BMCOE will distribute computer sets to public secondary schools, state universities and colleges, and possibly some private schools in the country. The Sung-gi Vocational School will also donate around 3,000 technical equipment for machinery, electronics, chemical engineering, automobile, and architectural design to several higher education institutions. The BMOE-RP accord also provided a two-month specialized program for the first batch of 30 teachers on English proficiency and 20 others on English, Math and Science. The training programs will be held in St. Paul University, Rizal High School, Philippine Women’s University, Quezon City Science High School, Rizal Science High School, and Marikina High School this month until August and in February 2009. During the training program, the Busan teachers will be introduced to Philippine basic curriculum on English, Math and Science and will be trained on oral and literacy skills. After the training session, the Philippine government and the BMCOE will discuss the facilitation of enhancing the modules based on the needs of the teachers. Last January, Secretary Neri and Ambassador Dee ironed out the agreement with the Busan local government about the donation of computers and technical-equipment to the Philippines. Several exchange visits were then made by officials from Philippine government and schools as well as the BMCOE technical staff. The first draft of the MOU was then made last May.