BBM wants SHS grads to be ready for better jobs
THERE is a possibility that technical and vocational education and training, or TVET as the Technical Education and Development Authority (Tesda) calls it, will be incorporated into all strands of the current and soon-to-be improved Senior High School (SHS) system. Tesda, the Department of Education (DepEd), and the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) presented this new proposal to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at Tuesday’s sectoral meeting.
It may be recalled that during the DepEd’s 2024 Basic Education Report presentation last January 25, BBM said that education is the most important service a government can give to its people, second only to preserving life and limb. In his travels, he is frequently faced with the need for Filipino skilled workers. The demand is definitely out there, especially as the aging populations in industrialized nations grow larger. But the president wants our workers to have better and more relevant skills in order to get better quality jobs both here and abroad.
The rationale behind embedding TVET into the senior high system is to ensure that senior high school graduates are either more prepared for post-secondary education or ready for employment in better quality jobs for now and the future. President Marcos said that these plans are very well-intentioned and in keeping with his administration’s goal of Bagong Pilipinas, but stressed that they must be carefully studied while being in close coordination and consultation with private sector industries and technical agencies of the government.
And now, I speak and write as a mother of three girls who were and still are in the current Basic Education and Senior High School system of a local private school. My girls are the first generation of kids who transitioned into the K to 12 system.
I had always had the goal of sending them to foreign universities for postsecondary school. When K to 12 was introduced, the Philippine education system was recognized by even the top schools abroad. Before that, there was a need for extra years in foreign high schools before Filipino students could apply to university. Based on our experience, our local school worked within the DepEd’s K to 12 system and delivered well. Our eldest went from being a Senior High grad in the Philippines to a North American university ranked No. 18 globally. Just last weekend, we received our second daughter’s early acceptance offer to the same university. For me, the academic track of K to 12’s senior high school is good, but it can still be improved.
The DepEd has launched its K-10 Matatag: Bansang Makabata, Batang Makabansa program. Within it, we hope to see an improvement in science, technology, math and reading for our students. The 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) showed a very poor performance of
Filipino students, below the proficiency level set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). With a better basic education in place for our children, it is a good progression to further improve our Senior High School system so that our graduates do better academically and in relevant technical and vocational skills.
BBM has always prioritized education in all the government positions he has held in the past. He wants the improvements done, done immediately, but done properly. He ordered a further review of this proposal and to include the CHEd in the planning and reforms.
President Marcos’ objective, as mirrored by the departments and agencies involved, is to improve our overall educational system at all levels by the end of his administration. We may not see the fruits of these reforms by then. These things take time, 12 years of a child’s life. Bagong Pilipinas cannot be achieved overnight, but as long as we are all stepping in the right direction, we will achieve lasting, progressive change.