TESDA, CHED, DOLE to team up with DepEd to boost employability of senior high grads

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Tuesday ordered the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to work with the Department of Education (DepEd) to strengthen the senior high school curriculum and ensure the employability of graduates even before they enter college.

TESDA Deputy Director General Rosanna Urdaneta said, "There's a demand for mga workers, pero hindi po tayo nakakapagbigay talaga ng sapat na kaalaman, at iyong mga senior high school po, hindi na-i-employ kaagad-agad."

(There's a demand for workers, but the education system is unable to provide sufficient knowledge. Senior high school graduates are not employed right away.)

"So, what the President had instructed the TESDA Director General, Secretary [Suharto] Mangudadatu, is for him to work closely with DepEd and harmonize [the] curriculum [of] TVET (Technical Vocational Education and Training), as well as that of senior high school," Urdaneta said.

Last year, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) reported that only 20%, or one in five senior high school graduates get employed.

TESDA, together with the DepEd, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) are now tasked to form a technical working group to decide how to tweak the senior high school curriculum and identify which skills and competencies need to be prioritized to improve the graduates' employability.

Asked when the program is expected to be implemented, Urdaneta said, "Ang instruction po ng Presidente: as soon as possible."

(The President's instruction was: as soon as possible.)

TESDA was quick to clarify, however, that government officials were not going to overhaul the senior high school curriculum, but merely strengthen it to include specific skills and competencies.

There would be no additional expenses nor academic units on the part of learners, TESDA said. Graduates of this program will earn not just a diploma, but a national competency skills certification.

"Eighty (80) po sa KEGs, Key Employment Generators po iyong ano natin, sa tourism, sa agriculture, sa manufacturing, so may creative industries din po."

(We have 80 KEGs or Key Employment Generators in fields such as tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, and creative industries.)

"Lahat po ng key employment generators, iyon po ang pinili namin. Iyong 80 na iyon, 'yun po iyong i-integrate natin para nga… iyong ultimate objective is for them to become employable," Urdaneta said.

(All of the 80 employment generators will be integrated with the ultimate objective of making senior high school graduates employable.)

The technical working group is set to choose pilot areas for the program. TESDA has appropriated P50 million to train 4,000 teachers as part of the pilot stage. — VDV, GMA Integrated News