COMPUTER BASED TESTING FOR KOREAN LANGUAGE OPENS @POEA

http://www.poea.gov.ph/news/2012/PR_Dec2012_CBT.pdf

News Release
17 December 2012
Computer-based testing facility for Korean language opens at POEA
Officials of the Department of Labor and Employment, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration,
and Human Resources Department of Korea through its EPS Center in Manila lead the opening of the
venue for computer-based testing (CBT) for proficiency in Korean language at the POEA building on
12 December 2012.
POEA Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac said the CBT is hoped to provide a quick qualifying process for
applicants under the EPS apart from the usual paper-based test which was administered in the Philippines
for 8 times already since 2005.
The CBT is available only to EPS workers who have returned to the country after finishing their original
work contract and who would like to work again in Korea.
“With the computer-based test, we are hoping that all qualified Filipino workers can efficiently re-enter
and work in Korea thereby minimizing the number of Filipinos choosing to illegally stay and work in Korea
than to return home and wait for 6 months before they can re-apply for the Employment Permit System,”
Cacdac said.
DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz congratulated the POEA and HRD Korea for finally reaching an
agreement with dispatch to embark on this mode to facilitate the re-entry of many OFWs to Korea.
“This CBT venue was completed in time, as they say, ‘pairi-pairi’ (fast) Korean style, and the facilities are
state-of-the-art,” Baldoz observed.
The CBT venue was the product of a service commitment agreement between HRD Korea and POEA,
which was signed in February 2012 and the implementing arrangement concluded in September.
The testing center, which way constructed for Php4.5 million, has a total area of 238 square meters and
can accommodate a maximum of 40 test takers at a time.
Administrator Cacdac and Korean Ambassador Lee Hyuk led the ribbon-cutting ceremonies. DOLE
officials, HRD Korea Director General Kim See Tae, Director Jeong Eun Hee of the EPS Center in the
Philippines, and representatives of the Korean community and business groups in the Philippines were
also present during the inauguration.