DA, DepEd join hands to uplift agri-fishery education

PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Education (DepEd)  have teamed up to explore appropriate measures to improve  the delivery of agriculture and  fishery education to 136 agri-fishery technical-vocational (tech-voc) schools in the country.

The joint venture, designed to further strengthen the DepEd’s current offerings and provide students with more options to earn a living after they graduate, was formalized  through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala and Education Secretary Armin A. Luistro at the start of the current school year.

A copy of the MOU received at the DepEd region 9 office here stipulated that the two departments would  share resources so that the schools could  better serve students who choose to work in the agriculture and fisheries sector.

Luistro said the  MOU is aligned with the recently implemented  K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education Program in which one of the objectives is to develop the skills of students enrolled in tech-voc courses.

“Dapat baguhin natin ang imahe ng agri-fishery schools. Dapat alam natin kung saan dadalhin ang ating curriculum at kung paano ito magiging attractive sa mga mag-aaral. Dapat nakatutok sa local development (We should change the image of agri-fishery schools. We should know where our curriculum is being brought to and how it will be attractive to students. It should focus on local development),” Luistro said.

For its part, the Agriculture department  would  extend technical assistance and know-how by providing resource persons to train tech-voc teachers in agriculture and fishery education.

Alcala said his agency would also provide seedlings, fingerlings, fertilizers and other production inputs for the development of demonstration farms, nurseries and breeding stations.

The DA  also agreed to offer scholarships to deserving graduating high school  students as well as masteral degree programs for tech-voc instructors and officials on agriculture-specific and fishery-oriented courses at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, Laguna, Mindanao State University in Lanao del Sur, Central Luzon State University in Munoz City, Nueva Ecija, among others.

According to Luistro, the MOU would be effective initially for two school years and subject to  renewal every year based on the positive outcome of the joint undertaking.

He explained that the Education department’s Strengthened Technical-Vocational Education Program (STVEP) primarily aims at equipping secondary school graduates with Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA)-certificate  tech-voc skills that would allow them to venture into entrepreneurship or start  their own business which  is priority program of the Aquino administration “to better link schooling to community growth and development.