PBEd flags need to strengthen link between education and job readiness

By Gillian M. Cortez
EDUCATION advocacy group Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) flagged the need for improved quality of learning to empower Filipinos joining the work force.
In a press gathering on Wednesday, PBEd Executive Director Lovelaine B. Basillote said Filipinos’ standing in global competitiveness is still in the “pwede na (not bad)” level.
“In the human capital development, we’re only better than 62% of the countries surveyed. In terms of talent competitiveness, only better than 43% and country competitiveness, only 21%. We’re kind of like in the ‘pwede na’ rank,” she said.
PBEd cited survey reports by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2017, Institut Europeen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) in 2018, and International Institute of Management Development (IMD)in 2018.
The group also cited a study by the Philippine Statistics Office that, “For every five unemployed Filipinos, three have a high school diploma and one, a college degree.”
Ms. Basillote, for her part, citing a World Bank study, said, “Many of our graduates are not ready for work.”
A presentation by the group showed graduates lacking socioemotional skills such as communication and critical thinking, which led to a proportion of two of three employers having difficulty in hiring based on those skills, and an increase of 30% in unfilled vacancies in Philippine firms due to that skills gap.
“This actually shows that the biggest issue is still basic education,” PBEd President Chito B. Salazar said, adding that these skills are meant to be mastered not only during the university level but even earlier than that.
“Most of these are supposed to be developed at the basic education level,” he added.
“We have yet to translate the country’s successes into actual learning–the kind that prepares our people for global economy and the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” PBEd chair Ramon R. del Rosario Jr. for his part said.
The PBEd also emphasized the need for quality teacher training. “At the end of the day we don’t want to prepare bad teachers for the classroom,” Ms. Basillote said.
The organization also tackled how the government can improve the passing rate of those who take the Licensure Exams for Teachers (LET).
“We’ve continued to call the PRC (Professional Regulation Commission)to make changes in the LET,” Mr. Salazar said. He added the group hopes the agency would “release the questions (of the LET), like the Bar exams (which are) always immediately released after the Bar” so future LET takers could review them.
The group also praised the Department of Education’s recently adapting the Philippine Professional Standard for Teachers, on which institutions should “base teacher hiring, promotion and firing,” said Ms. Basillote.
These standards, as per DepEd Order No. 42, series 2017, aim to produce better educators, in the wake of the shift to K-12, to be in line with international standards.