200 STUDENTS TO JOIN IBM BOOTCAMP

Senior high students under the Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) strand will be trained on robotics, design thinking, among others

Some 200 senior high school students in Cebu will undergo a three-month bootcamp with IBM Philippines to come up with technology-related solutions to address the global concern on climate change.

These senior high science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) students from six public schools in Cebu will be mentored by IBM volunteers.

They will hold a design thinking workshop to help students develop their ideas for their application proposal that can help solve Cebu’s pressing environmental concerns.

The bootcamp is part of the SkillsBuild program, which aims to help primary and secondary students learn about today’s technologies and skills to prepare them for employment in Stem and other careers, as well as increase their competitiveness in the workplaces of the future.

IBM Philippines president and manager Aileen Judan-Jiao said it is important for the country to produce a relevant workforce, especially in today’s digital age.

She, however, said it is not enough to produce talents who have technical skills; they must also excel in soft skills, or character traits and interpersonal skills that characterize a person’s relationships with other people.

These are a combination of people skills, social skills, communication skills, character traits, attitudes, career attributes, social intelligence and emotional intelligence quotients that enable people to navigate their environment, work well with others, perform well, and achieve their goals with complementing hard skills.

“The bootcamp will help these students get the relevant skills needed in today’s work environment. You can’t be employable just because you are in Stem strand. You still need to get the relevant skills. We need to make sure that the talents that we build on today will have these skills to prepare them in the real Stem environment,” said Jiao.

Students will be taught how to create successful presentations, as well as skills on application development and deployment using the IBM cloud platform.

The technology bootcamp was launched in Cebu on Nov. 10. Cebu is the pilot area. IBM tapped into the province’s unmatched multi-sector.

The bootcamp is spearheaded by IBM Corporate Citizenship, IBM’s corporate social responsibility business unit. /