Report Title:

Education; Exchange Student and Faculty Program with Philippines

Description:

Directs the department of education, in consultation with a variety of other organizations, to develop and implement a student and faculty exchange program between Hawaii and the Philippines.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

3258

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to education.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that student exchange programs involving students in Hawaii's schools provide the opportunity to learn first-hand the diverse cultures of other countries of the world. These exchanges foster and sustain good relationship and cultural exchanges between foreign countries and the State of Hawaii. The State has a student exchange program with Japan's Okinawa Prefecture, which has demonstrated the benefits and cost-effectiveness of these programs over its fifteen year life.

Implementing a similar student and faculty exchange program between the State and its sister provinces in the Republic of the Philippines would provide more concrete and viable connection between the State and those provinces than a mere paper relationship. Officials in the Republic of the Philippines have express a strong interest in developing student exchange programs. The establishment of such a program at this time would be particularly appropriate since this year is the Filipino Centennial Celebration, celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Filipinos to Hawaii and honoring the achievements and contributions Filipinos have made to the State. Hawaii and the Philippines have a long history of close relations and connections. A student and faculty exchange program between Hawaii and the Philippines would strengthen an already close cultural, social, and economic relationship between the State and the Philippines.

SECTION 2. The department of education, in consultation with the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools and the University of Hawaii, shall develop a student and faculty exchange program with the State's sister provinces in the Republic of the Philippines involving public and private schools in Hawaii and students and faculty in schools in the Philippines. The department shall also consult with the various Filipino communities and organizations in the planning and implementation of the exchange program. The program shall be implemented by the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.

SECTION 3. The department shall submit a report to the legislature of its findings and recommendations on the creation, implementation, and maintenance of a student and faculty exchange program between Hawaii and the State's sister provinces in the Republic of the Philippines no later then twenty days prior to the beginning of the regular session of 2007 and 2008, if necessary to update the legislature on the status of the program's intended implementation.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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