Tech-voc training to be part of all senior high school strands

MANILA, Philippines — Technical-vocational skills training will soon be given to all senior high school students regardless of strand or area of study after the government's three education agencies agreed to streamline their policies to produce more employable graduates.

The Department of Education (DepEd), Technical Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) signed a joint memorandum circular on Friday that embeds Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in all senior high school tracks. The Department of Labor and Employment is also a co-signatory.

An earlier TESDA press release said its purpose is to "equip high school graduates with industry-relevant skills and knowledge" by including at least one training regulation (a set of competencies for a certain industry or sector) in every grade level in the SHS. By the time a student graduates from senior high school, they would have earned two National Certificates (NCs). 

DepEd and TESDA also signed another joint memorandum circular on Friday that requires senior high school students taking the technical-vocational livelihood (TVL) track to undergo assessments to receive a National Certificate (NC) from TESDA. An NC serves as official proof of a person's mastery of a skill or competency when applying for jobs locally and abroad.

It's currently optional for Grade 12 students on the TVL track to undergo assessments, which is needed to be issued a NC for their skills. Due to the apparent cost of applying for an assessment (average cost being P1,000 per individual) based on TESDA data, only a quarter of senior high school graduates received certificates for School Year 2019-2020. 

The 2024 General Appropriations Act has funding for the mandatory assessment of Grade 12 TVL learners, as well as a "capability building program" for more DepEd teachers to become accredited competency assessors, TESDA said in its press release.

The finalization of curriculum guides and pilot implementation in select schools and regions will be conducted in 2025 to assess the effectiveness of the program before the launch of the revised SHS curriculum, according to TESDA.

DepEd's senior high school program differentiates those taking the academic track from the technical-vocational track. The academic track consists of three strands: Business, Accountancy, Management (ABM); Humanities, Education, Social Sciences (HUMSS); and Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM). 

These academic strands do not have technical-vocational skills training as part of their curriculum. Students instead gain some measure of work experience through 80 hours of work immersion, which private sector group Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) said may be inadequate for employers to consider students as work-ready.

In a 2017 study by PBEd, out of the 70 leading companies across all sectors in the Philippines, only 20% were willing to accept senior high school graduates.  

While technical vocational courses remain popular among Filipinos looking to upskill, latest available data shows that graduates of technical vocational programs mostly end up in minimum-wage jobs. 

From 2010 to 2014, TESDA graduates earned only around P10,000 per month on average, according to the National Technical Education and Skills Development Plan (NTESDP) 2018 to 2022.

RELATED: Most TESDA graduates earn less than minimum wage

Coordination among DepEd-CHED-TESDA needed

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom II) identified the absence of cooperation among the country's three education agencies as an obstacle to enhancing current policies related to students' learning. 

The finding, as detailed in Edcom II's Year One report, said that the historial context behind the "trifocalization" of the Philippines' education system, which led the then-sole education agency to split into three different bodies, exposed the "lack of effective coordination among education agencies."

While several laws and executive orders require the three education agencies to work together, Edcom II found that these have not always been followed effectively.

"The scope is either too specific or too broad. Some interagency committees have a very narrow focus, such as the Interagency Committee on Economic and Financial Literacy, convened in line with RA 10922. This does not foster the systems perspective needed to orchestrate the sector as a whole," Edcom II said. 

Edcom II also pointed out that some interagency bodies have "weak institutional arrangements and capacity."

"Irregularity of meetings and lack of continuity were commonly cited issues in coordinating DepEd, CHED, and TESDA," Edcom II added.