The Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) in Negros Oriental is encouraging the public to consider taking up technical and vocational (tech-voc) courses to fill in the job mismatch gap, an official said Thursday.
Fletcher Gumahad, TESDA-Negros Oriental provincial director, said in a Kapihan forum, many people still prefer a baccalaureate degree that usually takes at least four years in college over the shorter tech-voc courses.
He said TESDA graduates have better chances of landing a job faster due to the availability of positions.
“A TESDA graduate gets employed within six months of completion of a course with a National Certification Level II (NC II) compared to college degree holders who get hired a year or even longer after graduation,” he said.
There are also college courses that require a license before they can be fully employed, he said.
He said based on numerous interviews he did in the province, people are not keen on enrolling in tech-voc courses.
TESDA is embedding the knowledge and skills of NCII in all strands in K-12 Senior High School starting this school year unlike in the past when only the TVL strand was covered, Gumahad said.
This means that as early as senior high school, students learn the knowledge and skills that can be useful after graduation as they can now be NCII certified.
Gumahad, however, said senior high graduates will have to still pass the national assessment certification program before earning their NCII.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education in Negros Oriental is now offering a new tech-voc curriculum on sugar processing, the only one in the Philippines so far.
Dr. Antonio Baguio Jr., DepEd education program supervisor of the Negros Oriental division, said the first batch of graduates comprising some 30 students completed their studies this year.
Gumahad, however, said TESDA and DepEd are still to fine-tune some concerns on the issuance of NCII to these graduates.
Baguio said they introduced the new curriculum in a national high school in Barangay Tara, Mabinay, owing to the huge sugar industry in Negros Oriental. (PNA)
