TRAIN TEACHERS TOO: STARTUP FOUNDER
On-the-job training for teachers to help close gap between ICT industry, academe Company tours to give pre-college students preview of IT industry
A Cebuano startup whose creation is gaining support in Singapore, Australia and Hawaii has shared his two cents on how the recurring gap between the industry, specifically in the information and communications technology, and the academe can be addressed. One way is for private firms to train and hire teachers for at least six months.
“The mode of instruction and the technology used, especially for IT (information technology) students, is becoming obsolete or outdated on what are the current technologies, especially for software startup companies,” said Vince Loremia, chief operations officer of on-demand contact center Kallfly, which received funding worth A$100,000 (P3.8 million) from the Queensland Government of Australia.
The startup executive, who graduated from an IT course at the University of San Carlos in 2007 and completed his Masters in Industrial Technology at the Cebu Technological University, opined that immersing teachers in an on-the-job training with business managers in IT companies can aid this school-industry gap, which has been a concern for employers.
“Sometimes, it’s not the student, you know. It seems that we can address this by letting our academe experience what it is like working in the industry,” he told SunStar Cebu.
It is also recommended for companies to collaborate with schools to provide suggestions and needed intervention in the curriculum.
The K-12 education system, said Loremia, is also an opportunity for pre-college students to get a preview of what the IT industry is like.
“Tours might be, I think, (helpful). Introduce (this) on the first year, not on the fourth year, so incoming students know firsthand what to expect,” added Loremia, describing this as “experiential learning” rather than the traditional method of teaching where it is mostly theories, teachers and books as sources of information.
Both students and teachers can take part in hackathons and TEDx (Technology, Entertainment, Design-like events). Exposure on startup communities and tech events are some of the experiential learning strategies schools should adopt.
In Cebu, the Cebu IT/BPM Organization (CIB.O), formerly called the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Infor- mation Technology (Cedfit), has helped bridge this gap by tapping the expertise and resources of IT companies including Lexmark, Dell and Accenture in providing training to both teachers and students in selected schools and universities in Cebu, said Wilfredo Sa-a Jr., CIB.O managing director, in previous interviews.
Regarding Kallfly, Loremia said the company also received funding from the BlueStartups of Hawaii worth US$25,000 (P1.25 million).
It was also part of top companies from JFDI’s Asia acceleration program, where JFDI partnered with the Singapore government to award Kallfly and other companies investments, extensive training and networking with founders and chief executive officers of top companies in Asia, said the Hawaii News Update in its website.
As an on demand virtual contact center, Kallfly provides experienced call agents homebased jobs on customer support, telemarketing, virtual assistants, appointment setting and lead generation for both small and medium businesses.
Loremio is also the co-founder of Tudlo Innovations Solutions Inc., which developed Batingaw, a disaster response mobile app of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.