PCCI, DepEd ink MOU to help address skills-job mismatch

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and the Department of Education (DepEd) have forged an agreement to collaborate on the integration of the dual training program with the K to 12 curriculum, to help address the worsening skills-job mismatch in the country.

Dual training refers to the combination of practical, on-the-job, enterprise-based training and theoretical education in a school, to balance theory and practice.

Both parties believe that in considering the specific skills requirements of industries, and in providing hands-on-training for students through the dual training program, the country will produce graduates with skills that industries and businesses need.

At the signing ceremony Monday, PCCI chair Miguel B. Varela said the signing of the memorandum of understanding served “as PCCI and DepEd’s commitment to work together in instituting programs and projects that will create a pool of qualified, competent and job-ready human resources, and thus contribute to the productivity and sustainability of enterprises, generate employment and self-employment, and reduce poverty in our country.”

Under this five-year agreement, the PCCI will help DepEd identify the appropriate facilities necessary to maximize the benefits of the K to 12 program for students in the technical-vocational-livelihood (TVL) track.

The PCCI, in consultation with the DepEd, will also establish a system of accreditation of industries and businesses that can accept senior high school students in the TVL track as trainees; and ensure that the dual training industry partners can and will train the trainees or mentees following the competencies and standards of the DepEd curriculum.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro stressed, meanwhile, the need for the educational reforms to be closely linked with the industries.

Luistro urged PCCI members to help teach or train senior high school students.

“(They can teach) part-time, what’s important for us is to have those immersed in these industries to be able to teach the students,” Luistro added.