Dual training system to provide jobs for 500,000 youths

MANILA, Philippines - The private sector has committed to create 100,000 jobs a year for five years through a dualized training system (DTS) in an effort to reduce youth unemployment.

Vicky Garchitorena of the Philippine Business for Education said such system will be undertaken starting next year through a five-year public-private partnership program called the Philippine Social Pact (PSP).

She said an industry-led DTS will serve as an alternative education-employment path.

Garchitorena said priority sectors until 2020 are hotel and tourism, electronics, construction and development and agro-industry/agribusiness sectors.

Beyond 2020, she said beneficiaries are automotive, business process outsourcing, retail and fast food and manufacturing sectors.

“Sectors were selected based on the government’s priority economic sectors and recommendation from industry,” she noted during the recent National Education Forum.

Under the PSP, trainees are allotted a training allowance worth of the prevailing regional minimum wage for time spent at the company. Seventy five percent of the amount is shouldered by the company while the other 25 percent by the government through training allowance subsidy.

The average training period is one year, with 80 percent of the time in accredited company and 20 percent in an accredited training institution.

“Industry will play a larger role in accreditation, assessment and certification with TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) in accordance with the current DTS implementing guidelines,” Garchitorena said.

The Philippine Social Pact Council (PSPC) will screen applicants and send them to the Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) for distribution to accredited companies and schools for further screening.

For those who are not hired by the accredited company at the end of their training program, PSPC will help place them in other companies within the same sector.

Apart from providing jobs to the youth with economic multiplier effects, Garchitorena said the PSP also addresses demand for industry-relevant competencies and improves industry competitiveness.