THERE are enough jobs for graduates of the K-12 curriculum, an official of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) said yesterday.
Members of the League of Filipino students are calling on the National Government to stop implementing the new basic education program, saying it will cause an oversupply of skilled workers, resulting in more competition for local jobs and lower wages.
Tesda Secretary Joel Villanueva said there remains a high demand for skilled workers abroad.
“Qatar alone needs 100,000 skilled workers in preparation for the 2022 Fifa World Cup,” Villanueva told reporters.
He said Malaysia and Australia also need tens of thousands of welders.
Tesda’s ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certification will also help Filipino workers get better chances of landing decent jobs abroad, said Villanueva.
“We are producing the most sought after skilled workers abroad,” he said.
Benefits
The K-12 curriculum makes kindergarten mandatory and adds two years to the basic education program.
The senior high school, or grades 11 and 12, will open next year. Among others, technical and vocational subjects will be offered in senior high school.
The Department of Education believes that the new curriculum will help address unemployment among the youth.
“We are excited with the full implementation of the curriculum because at the end of the day, when you graduate, you don’t only get a high school diploma but also the national certificate of Tesda,” Villanueva said.
He said that this year, Tesda will train 15,000 teachers who will handle technical and vocational courses in senior high school.
Last year, they trained 10,000 instructors teaching technical and livelihood education.
“Our challenge right now is to continue to produce trainors and more assesors,” he said.
Before a graduate of technical and vocational courses gets a certificate from Tesda, he or she has to pass an assessment.
Tesda needs least 4,000 new assessors this year, Villanueva said.
Villanueva yesterday attended a graduation ceremony at the University of Southern Philippines Foundation in Cebu City and another activity at the Benedicto College in Mandaue City.
No to implementation
During the Cebu Media Forum yesterday, several groups of teachers and nongovernment organizations also urged the Aquino administration to stop the implementation of K-12 system due to lack of funds and facilities.
Annabelle dela Serna, Visayas coordinator of Teachers Dignity Coalition said that she cannot understand why the government is pushing through with K-12 when the lack of classrooms, teaching tools and teachers nationwide has yet to be addressed.
Antonia Lim, Association of Concerned Teachers (ACT) president for the Visayas, said the purpose of K-12 is to make our children globally competitive in the future.
“But how can we become competitive when our schools are going backward? We are still using the old ways of teaching with Manila papers, dilapidated blackboards, among others, while other countries are using laptops, power-point presentations and television sets,” she said.
Bernabe Sabejon, ACT vice president for the Visayas, said even books for K-12 have thousands of errors.
Professor Phoebe Zoe Sanchez of the University of the Philippines-Visayas said K-12 will displace thousands of teachers, especially next year since no one will be enrolling in first-year college.
Johnggie Ramirez Rumol of Visayas Human Development Agency said the Commission on Higher Education, Tesda and the Department of Labor and Employment have joint guidelines that allow college teachers to be retrenched.
“Retrenchment of teachers in colleges and universities will start next year and it will only stop when the situation will be stabilized in 2022,” Rumol said.