MANILA, Philippines—Microsoft Philippine has teamed up with the Department of Education (DepEd) and Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) to raise hiring rates of senior high school graduates in the country.
Microsoft said in a statement on Monday (June 21) that some 260,000 students and teachers participated in an online event for free skills training on Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Teams and Minecraft Education.
They were also given training on Microsoft Learn, LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Imagine Academy.
“Microsoft is committed to supporting the digital transformation journey of 23 million students and close to 900,000 teachers of the DepEd through technology and programs that promote digital literacy, STEM education and skills advancement,” said Joanna Velez Rodriguez, public sector director of Microsoft Philippines.
“More opportunities will open up for them after completing learning paths in digital productivity, computer science, cloud, artificial intelligence and data science which are all aligned to in-demand technical and product skills and the most in-demand jobs globally,” according to Education Undersecretary Alain Del B. Pascua.
The training program was crucial as an estimated 20 percent of senior high school graduates enter the labor force immediately, the statement showed, citing data from the Philippines Institute of Development Studies.
“This translates to considerable digital skills gaps for many graduates,” Microsoft said.
Moreover, a recent Philippine Business for Education study group revealed that only 20 percent of the 70 leading companies in the Philippines were inclined to hire senior high school graduates “due to perceptions that new graduates are not work-ready.”
Microsoft said it would work closely with DepEd for the full extension of the program to Grade 10 and 11 learners and ensure skills and certification support for over 5 million DepEd junior and senior high school students every year.