INDUSTRY players have called for the development and improvement of the academe sector in the Philippines amid the rise of the so-called Industry 4.0.
Rene Gener, executive director at the People Management Association of the Philippines, said there is a need for the quality of education in the country to upgrade.
“The produce of technology development is blurring in the next five years by industry. The industries must cope with each development and we must have the necessary people. We are looking at the academe to do this,” Gener said at the recently concluded First Integrated Stem (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Leadership Summit 2019 held in Cebu.
Gener pointed out that there is a need to upgrade education to improve the quality of graduates and to have better facilities.
According to Gener, there is now a network of academe and industry stakeholders collaborating to capacitate teachers, aiming to bring quality education down to the students.
Gener noted that the Philippines currently has around three million unemployed individuals, 2.1 million are university graduates.
“Why? Because they lack technical know-how and soft skills like innovativeness, creativity, problem solving and decision making,” he said.
These skills can be achieved through Stem education that can aid the country in economic development especially in a world that is increasingly getting driven by technology.
He said there should be more incentives for schools to have better facilities that can help in giving the students the edge especially when they work.
“There should be actual experience but because of the lack of facilities, how do they apply? There should be better facilities for applied theories,” he said.
The summit held last Nov. 21 aimed to connect stakeholders to produce a workforce that would be able to navigate the era of digital technology. (JOB)