SM’s Sy-Coson: Philippines not ready for K to 12

MANILA, Philippines - Business tycoon Teresita Sy-Coson, the top executive of conglomerate SM Investments Corp., does not agree with the government’s K to 12 program for education, saying the country is still developing and may not be ready for such changes.

“I’m not in favor of that... The Philippines is not a developed country and we do have a lot of poverty around. I was hoping we would have a lot of vocational schools that would train for the different skills needed by the industries to grow,” she said in one of the sessions of the Forbes Global CEO Conference yesterday.

She believes a country like the Philippines needs to have many vocational schools that can train people for various industries such as business process outsourcing (BPO).

She said the Philippines is not yet in dire need of special skills, although she noted that many information technology people working in the SM Group are going abroad to train.

Sy-Coson, also the concurrent chairman of BDO Unibank Inc. (BDO), said vocational schools would further improve people’s skills, allowing them to qualify and work in industries here and abroad.

Vocational schools are commonly known as trade schools or career schools providing practical training with a few unrelated academic course requirements. It also offers programs ranging from 10 weeks or less to long-term programs of up to two years.

Vincent Tan, founder of the Malaysia-based Berjaya Corporation Group of Companies, said every country should have a lot of vocational schools, which can produce skilled workers such as mechanics, electricians, hotel and BPO industry employees.

The K to 12 program of the government covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education, comprised of six years of primary education, four years of junior high school and two years of senior high school. The goal is to provide more time for mastery of concepts and skills and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment and entrepreneurship.

The government is due to implement senior high school next year.