Dad asks DepEd to come up with youth summer program

Cebu City councilor Arsenio Pacaña has requested the Department of Education to come up with a summer program for both students and out-of-school youth, to be implemented in coordination with the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority, Association of Barangay Councils and Sangguniang Kabataan Federation.

"The government must initiate a summer program for students and out-of-school youths that would allow these groups of people to further enhance their skills and exposure in a given field and will help them become more productive members of society," said Pacaña in his proposed resolution.

Pacaña said the summer program should give youth-participants training on basic hands-on computer literacy, or non-formal education; exposure to livelihood programs, as well as sports development training to keep them away from substance abuse.

"It is imperative that appropriate skills training should be initiated as early as possible especially among the youth in order to set the trend and direction for them to be globally competitive," he stressed.

Pacaña, who is dean of the Teachers College at the Cebu Institute of Technology, said that an appropriate government skills training program would give the youth the necessary exposure and advantage in a given field. - Garry B. Lao