2 circulars for tech-voc education signed
TWO joint memorandum circulars (JMCs) have been signed, aiming to strengthen technical and vocational education among senior high school students in the country.
Signatories to the circulars included the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE).
The circulars were the result of the directive made by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to strengthen the government’s commitment to improve the country’s education system and enhance the skills of Filipino workers to make them “job-ready” for the technical and digital jobs that will be opened through the investments that were secured for the country.
Newly signed circulars were “Ensuring Quality Assured Assessment for Certification of Technical-Vocational Livelihood Track (which would institutionalize mandatory assessment for Technical-Vocational Livelihood (TVL) track students), and a memorandum that would embed Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) into all SHS tracks.
According to Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, the JMCs memorandum circulars are a “complete declaration of the government’s commitment to enhance skills-based education at the senior high school level and integrate it to the goals of higher education and the labor market.”
“We thank President Marcos Jr. for his renewed vision on TVET to unlock the full potential of the Filipino workforce through reskilling, upskilling our learners to enhance the country’s human capital. The signed JMCs are crucial to ensure our learners and graduates possess technical competencies for technical professions and lifelong skills,” Duterte said in a speech read by Undersecretary Michael Wesley Poa.
Meanwhile, Tesda Director General Suharto Mangundadatu said that the mandatory assessment for SHS TVL students and the embedding of TVET in the SHS curriculum will open a lot of opportunities for learners.
Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, who chairs the Tesda Board, added that they aim to create policy recommendations to strengthen employment strategies for senior high school graduates.
“[It will ensure] that Senior High School students are equipped with necessary skills for life and work but are also imbued with the culture of lifelong learning and adaptability in the face of an ever-evolving industry and constantly transforming world of work,” Laguesma said.
Senate Basic Education and Culture chairman Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said that the joint memorandum circulars will also allow the government to finally employ SHS graduates, which, in turn, could lead for the private sector to follow suit, following continued surveys that he commissioned that showed declining interest in SHS.
“If you look at the qualification standard of a SHS versus a person who graduated four years in high school, the same ang qualification standard (their qualification standard is just the same),” Gatchalian said.