Sulong Dignidad Party-list is urging the Department of Labor and Employment to help K-12 graduates find jobs.
“One of the promises of the K-12 program is to help graduates enter the workforce even if they do not wish to pursue higher studies,” said Sulong Dignidad Party-list president and first nominee Rico Paolo Quicho.
“However, it is alarming because several surveys show that companies are not really sold on hiring K-12 graduates,” Quicho said in a press statement.
Last year, job recruitment website Jobstreet released a poll showing only 24 percent of employers were willing to hire K-12 graduates.
Meanwhile, another survey released by the Philippine Business for Education in March last year, showed three out of every five companies are open to hiring K-12 graduates, but only one in five are ready to do so.
“Both DoLE and DepEd need to make sure that the business community is made aware of the competencies of our K-12 graduates. We also need to make sure that these competencies are what companies look for in hiring employees,” he said.
Quicho said Sulong Dignidad will push for legislation that will review the implementation of the K-12 curriculum and suggest ammendments to better match school training with the skills in demand from industries.
“We will pass legislation that will support and improve the K-12 program by implementing a dualized education system nationwide. K-12 must be complemented by an apprenticeship program to make our senior high school graduates more competitive,” Quicho said.
He also stressed the need to work together with companies to make sure that the skills being taught to students are in line with the needs of employers.
“We will encourage private sector enterprises through their sector councils to work with higher educational institutions in developing a curriculum that is more attuned to the requirements of the evolving labor market,” Quicho added.