‘Di palaging diploma kailangan! House panel OKs proposal for enhanced tech voc education

By Billy Begas

The House Committee on Basic Education and Culture has approved a measure that will modify the vocational education sector and address the skills gap and youth unemployment in the country.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said the proposed Meister Schools Act (House Bill 6287) was patterned after successful models in Germany and Korea, where industry and schools work together to craft curricula that suit the needs of the economy.

“By transforming technical-vocational education into meister schools, South Korea has increased the employment rate of vocational high school graduates from 19% in 2010 to 42% in 2012, just two years after the program was put in place,” said Salceda.

The proposal aims to transition the country’s labor force from a diploma-centric workforce to one that is strongly equipped with real skills.

Salceda explained that based on studies, only one in three Filipino workers is in a skilled-work occupation. Low-skill work comprises 28% of our workforce, and around 40% is office and sales jobs.

“The preponderance of office jobs over skilled work, even when it is not what our economy needs, is one reason why we have become obsessed with college diplomas, regardless of the quality of our formal education system,” he added.

Salceda further explained that office jobs and sales jobs help transfer value from one buyer to seller, but skilled work is what creates value. “For a developing country like ours, we need more skilled workers than office jobs. Yet, unless the skills base actually exists, through public and private investment in skills training and education, the businesses that require skills will not come.”

Last year, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has already complained of difficulty to recruit workers who have the skill to solve customer problems and not just to respond to calls in a good accent.

A study in the industry also showed that only 15% of the current BPO workers could be hired for better-paying but higher-skill roles.

Heavy manufacturing has also struggled to recruit skilled workers for their factories. New industries that cut across traditional sectors, such as digital animation, game development, cybersecurity, and others, that need skills and not diplomas, also struggle to find a reliable base of skilled workers in the country.

“COVID-19 has emphasized just how relevant skills are to job security. When the going gets tough, firms require workers that truly create value. Skills development is worker protection,” the solon added.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)