DepEd pushes ‘job-ready’ efforts for SHS students

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) partnered with more than 170 institutions in various fields as part of its effort to make senior high school (SHS) students job-ready after graduation.

“Our graduates must enter the workforce with genuine hands-on experience and real competencies. By sitting down directly with our industry leaders, we are ensuring that what we teach in school matches what the real world actually demands,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said in a statement.

READ: Angara to JHS, SHS learners: Build gov’t careers via civil service exams

Article continues after this advertisement

Partner associations in the government, industry, and strategic economic sectors pledged around 31,000 work immersion slots to students, according to DepEd. 

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

This is 60 percent of DepEd’s 50,000-slot target over more than a thousand job roles, it further noted.

The agency also said it is revamping the SHS framework from four tracks to two, which is the Academic and Technical-Professional (TechPro).

Under TechPro, the work immersion will include joint training plans, hands-on mentoring, and industry assessments that provide national skills certification.

The agency said it seeks to address the “labor market’s missing middle” and increase skilled technicians, technologists, and associate professionals in the country by integrating industry standard skills into the Philippine Qualifications Framework.

Article continues after this advertisement

“We are refining our curriculum and expanding our Enhanced Work Immersion Program because our learners deserve real pathways to quality jobs, entrepreneurship, and higher learning. We cannot build a future-ready economy with yesterday’s skills framework,” Angara said.

Last Tuesday, Sept. 15, Angara met with key decision makers leaders from various fields during the high-level DepEd-Industry Dialogue on Global Competitiveness, Innovation, and Preparing Senior High School Learners for the Jobs of the Future.

Article continues after this advertisement

These industries were manufacturing, semiconductors , IT-BPM, creative industries, healthcare, construction, automotive, energy, logistics, agribusiness, financial services and tourism.

The agency said it will next initiate cluster discussions with sector-specific industry “to map out emerging job roles, update work immersion guidelines, and integrate real-time labor market information into the national curriculum.” /mr