Introduction
The International Labor Organization (ILO) defines labor market governance as “referring
to those public and private institutions, structures of authority and means of
collaboration that coordinate or control activity at the workplace and in the
labour market. In other words, labour market governance refers to the totality
of policies, norms, laws, regulations, institutions, machinery and processes
that influence the demand and supply of labour in an economy. Collective
bargaining and labor dispute prevention and settlement are among the elements” (in
Sale and Bool 2011; 2012).
A key
element in the supply of competitive labor and the challenge of sustaining it
lies on training for labor competencies and business acumen; these, in
partnership with both private and public institutions, will, or should, result
to a knowledgeable labor force. The existence of a competitive labor force is
the foundation through which business industries are sustained, developed, and
enhanced. However, given the multifaceted effects of a globalized economic
regime to labor and industrial competencies, our understanding of work and
organizations has been permanently altered.
The
deskilling of jobs has highly impacted labor competencies due to the proliferation
of technological advancements across various fields of industries. Machines
have steadily replaced manual laborers in the performance and consistency of
work output. The only competency needed for laborers is the facility of
operating complex machineries which gave way to the dissolution of practical
skill application of workers. Globalization has also affected small industries
that failed to adapt with the rapid advances in production which eventually led
to the closing down of local factories and the loss of job of thousands of
laborers.
A middle
class family can no longer be sustained singularly by one source of income to
sustain the basic necessities of life: food, clothing, utilities, education,
housing, and leisure. These demands are enough motivation to even consider
seeking jobs abroad where opportunities to earn more abound.
The
perennial demand for gainful employment is the driving force behind every
institutional effort to achieve inclusive growth[1]
and this has socially implicated a competitive training framework, most
especially for the youth, to be developed to guarantee a sustainable competent
labor segment.
The
government plays a vital role in enforcing this safety net for current, future,
and emerging industries to prosper, and for the country to achieve a vital
economic standing in ensuring the common capacity of all for equal opportunity
employment.
In
August 25, 1994, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA) was created through Republic Act No. 7796, otherwise known as the
“TESDA Act of 1994.” In its Declaration of Policy, it has enshrined the State’s
policy to
provide relevant,
accessible, high quality and efficient technical education and skills
development in support of the development of high-quality Filipino middle-level
manpower responsive to and in accordance with Philippine development goals and
priorities […] and encourage active participation of various concerned sectors,
particularly private enterprises, being direct participants in and immediate
beneficiaries of a trained and skilled work force, in providing technical
education and skills development opportunities.[2]
The term “middle-level manpower” refers to: (1) Those who
have acquired practical skills and knowledge through formal or non-formal
education and training equivalent to at least a secondary education but
preferably a post-secondary education with a corresponding degree or diploma,
or; (2) Skilled workers who have become highly competent in their trade or
craft as attested by industry[3].
Its goals and objectives are the
following: (a) Promote and strengthen the quality of technical education and
skills development programs to attain international competitiveness; (b) Focus
technical education and skills development on meeting the changing demands for
quality middle-level manpower; (c) Encourage critical and creative thinking by
disseminating the scientific and technical knowledge base of middle-level
manpower development programs; (d) Recognize and encourage the complementary
roles of public and private institutions in technical education and skills
development and training systems, and; (e) Inculcate desirable values through
the development of moral character with emphasis on work ethic,
self-discipline, self-reliance and nationalism[4].
The 1987 Constitution has also specified
the Government’s role in promoting technical education and skills development,
the educational mandate made references to “vocational efficiency,”
“citizenship and vocational training to adult citizens and out-of-school
youth,” and “(providing) adult citizens, the disabled, and out-of-school youth
with training in civics, vocational efficiency and other skills” (Center for
Research and Special Studies, 1998, 6ff). Given this landmark legislation that
strengthens the State’s role in promoting national competency upgrading, it
should be noted that its predecessor, Republic Act No. 5402, otherwise known as
“The Manpower and Out-of-School Youth Development Act of the Philippines”
(Ibid.) was also a guiding light in ensuring the mobilization of State activities
to address the training gap.
The demand for
training and the need for work
Let
this writer start this section with an anecdote from Robert Roberts (in Finn,
1987, v):
Mr. Rowley, much enthused, came and set the first moot
point, chalking it up on the board – ‘Children should go to school until they
are fifteen’…
Mackie chose me at once as a protagonist. Unfortunately,
in spite of threat or cajolery, he couldn’t find a single other pupil willing
to stand before the class and put the opposing, or indeed any, point of view,
and this not for want of ideas but through fear alone. Free speech didn’t come
easily to children kept down at home and in the classroom. Just before the time
for the debate arrived, however…the teacher dragooned a terrified girl off the
back row…
I got on the box provided and did my three minute stint
without trouble. Rich people, I remember saying, sent their children to schools
and colleges until they were twenty-one, so there must be something good in it.
We would become doctors and teachers and chemists and explorers – things like
that, if we went to school until we were fifteen. I was all for it.
Although Mackie had informed us that the audience was
quite free to heckle or clap, they heard me out in dead silence. But both adult
listeners seemed very pleased; the Head even patted my shoulder…My opponent,
Lily Weeton, a pallid girl with plaits, came out and stepped on the box. Her
words were few but explosive, ‘I think’, she said, ‘we should gerrout to work
at fourteen and fetch some money in for us parents’. Then she stepped off the
box to a thunderclap of applause, cheering and clog-stamping that rocked the
school. Bubbling excitement, our ‘electorate’ now went to the poll, and the
headmaster, acting as returning officer, announced the result in professional
style:
Roberts, Robert 2
Weeton, Lily 48
Storming
cheers again for the victor. Eddie Franklin and a girl friend had given me a
sympathy vote, but nevertheless admitted to being intellectually with the
opposition.
In 1987, Dan Finn, a Research Officer at the Unemployment
Unit of London, conducted a study on the development and politics behind the
Manpower Services Commission of London, and how the power of the State has been
used to manage the continuing political crisis of mass unemployment. However, there
is little confidence in what training the government can offer given the fact
that no jobs are available (Ibid., 1).
This
policy paper would like to address the following points relative to this analysis
in policy formation:
a. Is there ample intervention from the
State to address the skills gap of the youth in preparation for employment
relative to training program offers?
b. How can we further improve
public-private partnerships to induce industry partners?
c. What are the emergent threats inherent
to industries that may derail public-private partnerships?
For purposes of this paper, “youth” will refer to those
who belong to the 15-30 age bracket based on the Bureau of Labor and Employment
Services’ (BLES) definition but the writer would also include the 15-24
bracket, as per the United Nation’s definition for comparison gathered from the
BLES website.
Policy Analysis
According
to Dunn (2011), there are three elements to a policy system: policy
environment, policy stakeholders, and public policy. The environment refers to
the context in which events surrounding a policy issue occur. It influences and
is influenced by both the policy stakeholders and public policy. Public
policies tend to address the needs of its environment. Examples of public
policies are the economy, law enforcement, social welfare and labor. Policy
stakeholders are those who affect and are affected by the public policy, like
citizen’s groups, labor unions, government agencies, workers and their
families, foreign employers, local recruitment and placement agencies or
entities.
Reference
this paper, the public policy being studied is the TESDA Act of 1994 and how it
is currently being used to address skills upgrading including The Labor Code of
the Philippines’ Book Two on Human Resources Development, Titles I (Chapter I)
and II (Chapters I and II). Also, this writer will be including amendatory
guidelines in implementing apprenticeship and learnership programs through
TESDA Circular no. 16 of 2004. This framework of laws serves as a milieu in
understanding government efforts in addressing the problem of training and
unemployment.
The policy environment is how the Act,
including significant Code provisions and guidelines, addresses, albeit
prevents, the rise of unemployment and underemployment.
The policy stakeholders are the
government agencies involved: the Office of the President (OP), Department of
Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD), TESDA, Local Government Units (LGUs), the
Filipino unemployed and underemployed, and private partner institutions.
DOLE
(2011), in its 2011-2016 Plan, itemizes its efforts to improve access to
employment opportunities through: (1) Adopting reforms in employment
facilitation; (2) Addressing the job and skill mismatch problem by promoting
better coordination between employers, academe and the government, and by
strengthening both public and private sector labor market information and
exchange institutions, especially at the local levels, and; (3) Enhancing human
capital through education and training. Under this third intervention, Chapter 2
of the PDP, Macroeconomic Policy, the following strategies will be adopted:
- Promote demand-driven and quality assured education and training, effective skills assessment and certification systems and career advocacy especially in key employment generating areas as identified in the PDP;
- Strengthen the national licensing, competency assessment and certification systems to promote worker acceptance and industry recognition;
- Promote continuing professional education (CPE) to sustain and strengthen competencies;
- Improve levels of competencies of trainers and assessors in skills development;
- Enhance mobility of students between higher education and middle-level skills development based on the Philippine National Qualification Framework (PNQF);
- Expand the Ladderized Education Program to cover applicable degree programs;
- Ensure emphasis on generic competencies including trainability, work ethics, ICT literacy, critical thinking and problem-solving skills and good communication skills to produce globally competent and flexible workforce with positive work values responding to highly demanded critical skills, especially in the growth corridors;
- Sustain scholarship funding support and strengthen advocacy for technical / vocational education and training, apprenticeship, learnership and dual training;
- Implement education and training programs directed to create supply of workers for hard to fill occupations;
- Encourage LGUs and industry to directly participate in the delivery of technical-vocational education and training and skills development services;
- Negotiate arrangements with destination countries to invest in Filipino human resource development;
- Develop green skills standard setting and certification as well as capacity building for employers and workers;
- Harness industry tripartite councils for human resource development initiatives;
- Strengthen partnerships with institutions demonstrating sterling records in technical-vocational education and in the placement of their graduates, and;
- Ensure impact assessment and broad-based stakeholder consultation prior to entry to agreements or arrangements on movement of natural persons and mutual recognition of professionals and skilled workers.
- No less than the Code itself espouses the need for training “to help meet the demand of the economy for trained manpower.”[5]
Even the ILO Declaration on Social
Justice for a Fair Globalization (2008) has specified the need to “[promote]
employment by creating a sustainable institutional and economic environment in
which […] individuals can develop and update the necessary capacities and skills
they need to enable them to be productively occupied for their personal
fulfillment and the common well-being.” The demand to facilitate ample training
to address the skills gap is also aimed at bridging the income gap among
prospective employees and the development of a foundation base of competent
professionals to replenish an ageing workforce.
A very comprehensive summary has
been itemized by Azucena (2010) relative to the structure of RA 7796. The main
activities and programs of TESDA are as follows:
a.
The
transfer of the apprenticeship program from BLES to TESDA.
b.
The
establishment of a Technical Education and Skills Development Committee
c.
The
establishment of Skills Development Centers
d.
The
formulation of a Comprehensive Development Plan for Middle-Level Manpower
e.
The
establishment and administration of National Trade Skills and Standards
f.
The
administration of training programs
g.
The
provision of skills training scheme to employers and organizations
h.
The
coordination of all training schemes
i.
The
establishment of efficient institutional arrangements with industry boards in
the design and implementation of skills development schemes
j.
The
development of incentive schemes to encourage government and private industries
and institutions to provide high-quality technical education and skills
development opportunities
k.
The
designing and implementation of skills development opportunities
l.
The
devolution of TESDA’s training function to local government units
m.
The
organization and conduct of a skills olympics, with the participation of
private industries, to promote competitive education and training
n.
The
adoption of the allocation for scholarship grants
Given
the centralization of the government’s efforts to promote a competent labor
force, the need to sustain its activities relative to the demands of existing
circumstances should the basis through which training programs are utilized and
developed.
Even now, the need to arm the labor
force with adequate skills and competencies, even beyond their occupations, are
central to the guarantee of employability or the conduct of small enterprises. The
competition for jobs is then a question of adaptive skills and competencies and
no longer solely based on specialization. Capelli, et. al (1997, 154) says that
the perceptions of changing skill levels help drive public attitudes toward
education policy. He (Ibid., 156) also cautions that there may be repercussions
to hiring trends with the onset of changes in work organizations.
…changes in work
organizations may create substantial upgrading of skill requirements for
frontline workers performing tasks such as production work, upgrading that
sharply reduces the demand for poorly trained, unskilled employees. But the
demand for highly skilled managerial jobs may well be falling because of
reengineering and related changes in work organization. Whether these changes
in demand will be associated with shortages at current wage levels—a “skills
gap” effect—will depend on changes in the supply of skill.
There
is a tradeoff between the upgrading of skills and the competition for available
employment but this is a policy avenue for the government and other LMG
institutions to work on, to afford training for all to cope with the dynamics
of organizational operations. Given the heightened technologization of the
workplace, the demand for higher skills is all the more urgent.
Work restructuring is
driven by imperatives that overwhelm any short-term concern about skills. A
fundamental threat to survival, from increased domestic or foreign competition,
seems to be what causes companies to engage in fundamental restructuring of
work. The techniques for addressing these competitive challenges, such as new
production technologies or systems of work organization, demand higher skills
from employees (Ibid., 158).
This
is mirrored in the role of educational institutions in instilling the right and
ample values for work and skills development. On the other hand, at the other
end of the spectrum, there are “employers who fail to adapt to make investments
in developing technologies for fear that their workers have no adequate skill
to use them, the result might be a decline in overall economic performance and
in the real wage levels of many workers” (Ibid., 168).
Changing trends in hiring and
organizational dynamics brought about by technological advances are fertile
grounds for policy development.
Youth employment statistics
The participation of the youth in
the workforce is an indicator of how poorly the government addresses the
interplay between education and employment transitions. In a recent survey by
BLES (2011) for the previous year’s statistics, the trend in labor force participation
among youth is high at a sustained percentage (See Appendix: Table 13.3) and
the number of youth not attending school (See Appendix: Table 13.2).
Youth employment in the country, on
the other hand, is at an all time high in a five-year window: 15-24 at 6,816
and 15-30 at 12,644 (See Appendix: Table 13.4), both highest in the NCR.
Based on the highest grade completed
in the youth sector, most are high school graduates for both clusters (See
Appendix: Table 13.6). With this data, most of them are engaged in service work
as unskilled laborers (See Appendix: Table 13.8) in the agricultural, hunting,
and forestry sector (See Appendix: 13.7).
Most of the youth surveyed by BLES
are salaried workers in private enterprises for both clusters (See Appendix:
Table 13.9).
Youth underemployment is highest in
the Bicol Region for both clusters (See Appendix: Table 13.10).
This is the milieu of policy
formation in the country and the tags of important note. The survey offers us a
glimpse of a targeted cluster wherein we could develop a more comprehensive
competency program to address issues on employability and social consciousness
on the plight of youth workers.
TESDA’s thrust and TVET 2004: A point
to the right direction
In 2004, TESDA issued the Revised
Guidelines in the Implementation of Apprenticeship and Learnership Programs.
This was brought about by the reforms targeted for Technical and Vocational
Education Training (TVET) in pursuit of the enhancement in implementing
enterprise-based programs. This is done in partnership with employing companies
to develop programs of immersion for organizations.
The TVET specified the need for
interested enterprises to undergo registration as proof of their facilitation
to conduct apprenticeship and/or learnership programs. It should first be
established that these programs will cover apprenticeable professions and
professions soon to be registered and approved as apprenticeable.
This public-private partnership will
bring about an improved mutual responsibility in the education and development
of the workforce. This offers continuity in the government’s program to utilize
industry partners for trainees to undergo actual training on-the-job.
TESDA will also provide incentives to
participating companies as indicated in section 3.9 of the circular:
Participating
companies shall be entitled to an additional deduction from taxable income of
one half (1/2) of the value of labor training expenses incurred for developing
the productivity and efficiency of apprentices/learners. Said incentive shall
be given provided that such deduction shall not exceed ten (10) percent of
direct labor wage and that the enterprise who wishes to avail of this incentive
should pay the apprentices the minimum wage.
This
serves as an impetus for organizations. This practice took effect on August 12,
2004. This has also provided TESDA a chance to spur more developmental programs
to address the skills-and-employability ratio and amply study where programs
can improve on.
Concluding remarks: Labor market
governance and the framework of development
The government is in a very unique
position to influence, develop, and ensure the sustainability of any
provisional program to facilitate the demand of various economic activities. Its
role in maximizing the need to develop a knowledgeable workforce, ready and
able to guarantee a sustained employment enterprise or the conduct of small
businesses, should be coupled with dynamic partnerships with other LMG
institutions. Bitonio (2008, 1) refers to this in an extensive general
governance framework which embodies “key elements reflected in other
definitions: a notion of authority, legitimacy, accountability, and
participation that extends outside of formal government structures, a
foundation based on the rule of law, and a capacity to attain goals for the
common good.”
In Kochan (2012) and Bitonio (2012),
we can see the interplay of the expanded role the government can utilize to
incite the development of an efficient training framework.
Kochan (Ibid., 13) identifies five
(5) areas of improved partnership to jumpstart internal job competency growth
to promote job creation: the role of the academe; government support in
assisting the long-term unemployed, incentivizing job creation, and investment
in alternative energy technologies; investing in infrastructure; reviving lost
manufacturing sectors and developing next-generation manufacturing, and; making
strategic investments in human capital.
For purposes of this analysis, the
present writer would focus on is the fifth one. Kochan (Ibid.) states:
One of the most perplexing
aspects of the human capital paradox is that, despite the high levels of
unemployment, employer groups report shortages of middle and high-skilled
workers. While evidence on the skills shortages is sketchy, there is enough
concern to warrant addressing the market and institutional failures that might
be causing them. There are numerous ways to address the problem, but I’ll mention
again that apprenticeship and other joint union-employer programs are
particularly effective. As noted, these have been declining at the same time
that employers are voicing concerns over skill shortages in highly technical
manufacturing, service operations, and construction jobs. The parties to a Jobs
Compact would do well to explore tax credit and cooperative industry-level
options for expanding the role of apprenticeship and joint training programs.
Let us
dissect this entry, point-by-point. First, he identifies the human capital
paradox, referring to the sorry state of employment and skill availability and
competence match-up in the labor market. Thus, the skills shortage dilemma. Secondly,
he mentions the possible partnership between employers and employees,
represented by unions, in the development of apprenticeship programs to peruse
the need for ample ready-for-work training for workers and prospective workers to
upgrade skills and identify new skill sets to assist them in the facilitation
of their respective work engagements. Third and last, implicitly, he identifies
the role of the State in “exploring tax-credit and industry-level options to
expand the role of apprenticeship and joint training programs.”
Diagram
1. Ideal labor market governance framework
The
present writer has included in the diagram above (Diagram 1) the accompanying
role of the academe in assisting in the development of a feasible
education-to-employment framework and in ensuring that course choices equal
employability. Given that most schools are in for the profit, the government
should likewise be solidly responsible in culling out efficient educational
institution partners and weeding the “diploma mills.”
The government should establish a welcome
and stable economic set-up for business firms to operate in which in turn
guarantees the availability of jobs. On the other hand, the government should
likewise work hand-in-hand with the academe to develop programs that would
cater to the needs to upgrade the skills of employees, also in partnership with
the same, to identify areas wherein skill shortages occur to address and remedy
the foundational defect that would interminably result from letting it pass on.
In turn, the academe should likewise partner with employers in developing a
business outlook beyond the profit and, as Kochan (Ibid.) puts it “serve as an
avenue to manage complex negotiations and convene a mutual dialogue to address
[employment and training concerns].”
On the other hand, Bitonio (2008,
8ff) keys in on the expanded role of TESDA as the government’s training arm and
its shortcomings in actualizing its role:
A key policy
direction introduced under the 1994 educational reforms and in the TESDA law
itself is for the State to veer away from a highly-centralized provision of
training and toward devolution, decentralization and more active private sector
and community participation. In line with this, TESDA has started to build
networks of GOs, LGUs and NGOs. Still, TESDA remains very much a direct
training provider. School-based training courses are run by TESDA-administered
schools. Centre-based training courses are conducted in TESDA’s own training
centres. Given these, the relationship between TESDA and its “partners” remain
a combination of State regulation, control and paternalism rather than a
partnership of equals. In this sense, TESDA has not moved far from the old tradition
that characterized its predecessor, the NMYC, and which the educational reforms
of 1994 intended to change in the first place.
Bitonio
(Ibid.) sees that the “steering” role of TESDA can likewise expand its
operational capacities beyond the “rowing” or direct provision of training,
through “setting and administration of standards, curriculum development,
accreditation and monitoring of training institutions, skills assessment,
testing and clarification, and support of strategic sectors through training
grants and subsidies.” Also, the need to utilize funds and maximize its
appropriation must be “restructured to promote broader-based participation and
accountability in training outcomes” is another area in which TESDA can seek
more control of. Lastly,
Private markets play
an important role in putting into effect the State’s demand-led strategy in
skills training. Private training providers have sprouted across the country,
much of it due to new demands and skills scarcities.
Bitonio
(Ibid.) sees this as an avenue for TESDA to be accountable for and mindful of
how it can regulate, in a way, the conduct of private training providers
through the possibility of having some training courses bid-out or assigned so
as to avoid competition between the government and private training providers.
The labor market governance outline should be able to
[h]elp create the
condition for a more dynamic environment for investments and employment
creation, harness the skills of and competencies of workers toward optimum productivity,
and raise their incomes that they may uplift their living standards. (Ibid., 1)
This
is part and parcel of the decent work paradigm prescribed by the ILO as a
means, through employment and skills upgrading, the employee can live and enjoy
fully the fruits of his labor.
Table
1. Comparative data of TVET graduates and budget allocation 2008 (www.tesda.gov.ph)
TESDA should take on a more urgent
and proactive role in developing the right programs and engaging into the right
partnerships for it to be identified as an efficient training arm of the
government. Also, in the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016, the government
has identified “development areas that have the highest growth potentials and
generate the most jobs.”[6] The
government can maximize on developing training courses specific to these
growing industries to corroborate available jobs with the right skill sets. For
example, Bitonio (Ibid., 10) identified that from May 2006 to September 2007,
TESDA graduated about 37,300 call center agents, 5,000 medical
transcriptionists, and 230 software developers who were eventually absorbed by
the industry. Then President Macapagal-Arroyo, in 2007, announced the allotment
of Php 350 million in scholarships for the training of 70,000 call center
agents.
The government can bundle the right
training mix to address current and future needs in these sunrise industries. In
tourism, for example, tagged with need to promote the Philippines as a country
of destination for investors and tourists alike, the government can revive and
further enhance the “One Product, One Region” drive of then president Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo which will result to inclusive development and allow
competition within a given market sector. This will promote small businesses to
thrive regionally that will in turn efficiently maximize available regional
resources. In Pateros, for example, eventhough the balot and duck industry are no longer what they used to be 10, even
20, years ago, it is still not uncommon to see multiple small balot vendors lined up on the streets
day in and out and to see small duck-raisers along the watered fields of inner towns.
It is also an avenue for TESDA to maximize the hospitality industry to further
develop competencies in food preparation, food service, and a more recent trend, barista training and bar-tending.
Eventhough it is quite a problematic
and controversial industry, the mining sector offers a competitive backup to
the need for specialized skills and competencies. The present writer has
multiple clients in this industry relative to executive search requirements.
The salary bracket in this sector is among the highest offerings in and among
industries in the Philippines. There are roughly about more than fifty (50)
mining companies operating within the country registered with the Chamber of
Mines, most of which are partners with big multinational mining enterprises
with operations specific to minerals they process like gold, silver, copper,
base metals, limestone, among others. The end products, when processed, are
part of our daily utilities like mobile phones, television, jewelries, and
others. Being a specialized industry with skills unique to each operation, the
training needed is focused and can be maximized by the government. Even the
DOLE, through its Occupational Safety and Health division, has centered on
training and compliance activities to maintain the right standard of
operations. The employability of mining engineers, metallurgical engineers, and
geologists are boundless, even abroad. The government, in partnership with the
mining sector, through corporate social responsibility programs (CSR), can
develop livelihood projects within the community of operations, not as an
anesthetic to blind the possible aftereffects of mining, but as an opportunity
for income and skill development and incite entrepreneurship even in small
scale.
On the other hand, the government
can revive agricultural training in farm regions to develop their lands, like
Farming 101 or Irrigation Training. The Philippines can boast of hectares and
hectares of farming fields that can be maximized. This will further promote
inclusive growth and not just “for the moment” employment.
Being a manufacturing hub due to
cheap but efficient labor, the government can partner with employers in the
manufacturing sector, in general, to develop skills within the competency
requirements of multinational operations in the country. For example, we have
multiple manufacturing facilities based in Laguna and Batangas that usually need
additional contract manpower during peak seasons in toy manufacturing, gadgets,
or repairs. Training programs that will cater to these skill requirements can
bridge the gap of unemployment.
The government should likewise
partner with the academe in developing a curriculum mix that will address the
current job needs and the trends in employment. This role is not solely a government
responsibility as it should likewise be a conscious recognition of the academe
of not just graduating students but honing them for future jobs and
enterprises. In countries like Australia and Canada, even in the United States,
vocational education is integrated in the curriculum. We can likewise do that
here as a policy exchange. However, the danger is in its possible impact on the
preference for work rather than continued education given the mindset of most
people, not just Filipinos. The vacuum existing between the transition from
school to work should be a potent ground for policy formation.
There are alternative activities
that can be done to address the gap. Even some companies engage in internal
training to get in new hires, fresh graduates, and train them in the rigors of
employment demands.
The government should be mindful of these key areas as
avenues for partnership to develop a framework of collaboration and cooperation
and these should be included in the development of policies relative to the
continued evolution of the role of TESDA in its thrust for human capital
development and internal sustainability.
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[1] Inclusive growth means, first
of all, growth that is rapid enough to matter, given the country’s large
population, geographical differences, and social complexity. It is sustained
growth that creates jobs, draws the majority into the economic and social
mainstream, and continuously reduces mass poverty. This is an ideal which the
country has perennially fallen short of, and this failure has had the most
far-reaching consequences, from mass misery and marginalization, to an overseas
exodus of skill and talent, to political disaffection and alienation, leading finally
to threats to the constitution
of the state itself. (Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016,
I)
[2] Republic Act No. 7796, Section
2.
[3]
Ibid., Section 4 (e).
[4]
Ibid., Section 3.
[5]
Labor Code of the Philippines, Article 57 (1).
[6]
PDP 3: On “Competitive industries and services sectors” identified these areas
like tourism; business process outsourcing; mining; agri-business and
forest-based industries; logistics; ship-building; housing; electronics, and;
infrastructure.
(c) In
any agricultural undertaking at nighttime unless she is given a period of rest
of not less than nine (9) consecutive hours.
[11]
Republic Act No. 10151, Section 4.
[12]
Inclusive
growth means, first of all, growth that is rapid enough to matter, given the
country’s large population, geographical differences, and social complexity. It
is sustained growth that creates jobs, draws the majority into the economic and
social mainstream, and continuously reduces mass poverty. This is an ideal
which the country has perennially fallen short of, and this failure has had the
most far-reaching consequences, from mass misery and marginalization, to an
overseas exodus of skill and talent, to political disaffection and alienation,
leading finally to threats to the constitution of the state itself (PDP 1).
[13]
Also included were the industries of tourism, mining, agri-business and
forest-based industries, logistics, ship-building, housing, electronics and
infrastructure, among others.
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