Industry leaders tackle jobs-industry mismatch

One of the pressing issues taken during the 24th Visayas Area Business Conference last July 17 at Bethel Guest House, Dumaguete City was the jobs-industry mismatch visà-vis its relation to implementation of the K to 12 plus reform agenda and program of the Philippine government.

Key members of the construction TVET cluster of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. with the AFOS Foundation for Entrepreneurial Development under the Project on K to 12 Plus were invited to be panelists during the plenary session of the 24th VABC with Hon. Roman Romulo – Chairman of the Committee on Higher and Technical Education as Speaker.

Lito Maderazo, immediate past president of CCCI and co-chairman of the Philippine Steering Committee of the K to 12 Plus Project; Roy Guarin – Principal of Zapatera National High School in Cebu City; Engr. Jason Troyo – Vice President of Cebu Contractors Association (CCA) and Dr. Bryant Acar - Director of Primary Skills Educational Foundation (PSEFI – SKILLS) in Cebu shared to the body that they have proceeded to implement pilot classes last June 2015 for the construction sector’s sanitary builder job profile.

They presented how various stakeholders – business membership organizations and industry players (ie., member companies of CCA) are collaborating with a Tech-Voc Institute (i.e.,SKILLS Foundation) and Dep-Ed (in this case, Zapatera National High School) in a TVET cluster coordinated by CCCI with assistance from a German foundation in identifying job profiles and competency requirements, enhanced curriculum and conduct of a Dualized training for a class with 33 students.

The academic curriculum handled by DepEd is enhanced by technical training from a TechVoc Institute and will be further grounded with immersion in various participating industry partners.

In this manner, the dualized training system will produce graduates who will not only have national certification from TESDA and DepEd but also an industry certification. The pilot is ongoing and will last through December 2016. With them during the panel discussions was Dr. Earl Jude Paul Cleope, Dean of the College of Education of Silliman University.