MINDANAO TVET HELPS THE POOR (2nd of 2 Parts)

Even if Mindanao posted a relatively higher employment rate than the national average, it is ironic that there are also several provinces which have a higher number of poor families . More than half of our population at 57% are living below the poverty threshold. And in the past seven years, only Region X or Northern Mindanao was able to reduce its poor families by 4.9 percent

TVET Initiatives

Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) ensures that an individual has the technical skills and knowledge for gainful employment at the shortest time possible. All you need is to study from six months or two years, depending on your choice of skills training. Therefore, one does not have to waste money or time pursuing a four year college degree to be able to find a job; more so if one does not have ample financial resources. By taking a TVET course, one has the option to work and continue to go up the education ladder at his own pace. The Ladderized Education was introduced by both TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) and CHED ( Commission of Higher Education) early last year ; where one may opt to get a college degree by finishing one skills certificate at a time ; step by step ; until the highest rung of the ladder is reached. This is applicable for baccalaureate courses in Nursing, Hotel and Restaurant Management and Engineering.

Through TVET or the ladderize program, the children of poor family is able to help augment the meager family income through their new - learned skills and find work fast in many service companies, agriculture and manufacturing plants .

Priority Skills in Mindanao

There was a survey made among the different industries in Mindanao as to the kind of skills that were needed to sustain or bring about higher economic activities in different regions. This was done so TVET schools and institutions in each region will know what kind of training programs to offer to match the demands of industries.

The top 3 critical skills of Region 9 are in agriculture and fisheries, processed food and in construction; Region 10 is also in agriculture, construction and in the information/communication technology (ICT) arena . Topping the critical skills in Region 11 is ICT, agriculture and processed food and beverages; while Region 12 is in agriculture, land transport and tourism. CARAGA‘s needed skills is in furniture and furnishing, agriculture and construction while ARMM is in agriculture, construction and automotive.

In the general ranking, the top 5 critical skills in the entire island is still agriculture and fishery and that further strengthens Mindanao’s role as the food basket of the country. Followed by construction, processed food and beverages, ICT and Tourism.

This actually reflects the investment priorities of many regions in Mindanao. The cities of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Zamboanga are all positioning themselves as the prime tourism destinations as well as the ICT hub for call centers, transcription and the like. CARAGA remains as the region where you can find abundant wood for furniture. Skills pertaining to construction is a necessity since we know that progress and more business will bring about new buildings, roads and other infrastructure to support growth.

Partners in TVET

The Philippine Australian Human Resource Development Facility (PAHRDF) of Australian- Aid is an active partner of the Mindanao TVET Association MinTVET). This association is the biggest network of technical vocational schools association all over the island and is in the forefront of advocacy and bringing about positive changes and developments in TVET. Through the PAHRDF, the faculty members or teachers of TVET schools are given the opportunity to avail of both the short and long term scholarship to Australia. For this year, there were approximately ten (10) teachers who are now in Sydney taking up courses in Curriculum and Instructional Materials, School Management, Software Development and Metal and Fabrication. This will be an annual program between PAHRDF and MinTVET.

The Asian Development Bank is also one of the more active education donors in Mindanao working in collaboration with TESDA, CHED and the Mindanao Economic Development Council.

With this in mind, TVET is now being looked at with higher respect and TVET graduates are now able to stand proudly knowing that their skills certificate will be their key to success and prosperity.

For one thing, we must focus on the skills defined under the National Technical Education and Skills Development Plan 2005-2009 as these are the skills required by the companies. Let me present, therefore, the priority sector under the plan and the corresponding labor force requirements.

No	Sector	Total
1	Agriculture and Fishery	287,393
2	Construction	30,541
3	Processed Food and Beverages	29,928
4	Information Communications Technology	29,111
5	Tourism	14,459
6	Land Transport	8,812
7	Automotive	6,796
8	Furniture and Furnishings	4,057
9	Metals and Engineering	1,860
10	Mining	1,672

With the help of the government agencies through its scholarship programs like the Iskolar ng Mahirap sa Pamilya and other programs, we hope that Mindanao TVET is on the right track in helping the government improve the condition of the people of Mindanao.

(Joji Ilagan Bian is a strong and respected advocate for the development of the island. She is Chair of Joji Ilagan Foundation , Phil. Call Centers Alliance, Mindanao Tech Voc Schools Association; Mindanao Rep, Export Development Council. Email comments jojibian2@yahoo.com)

Strengthening Mindanao’s Skilled Human Resources (1st of 2 parts)

Just recently, I was invited by the Western Mindanao Technical Vocational Schools Association to talk about the status of the Mindanao technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Zamboanga City The event has allowed me to bring to the fore the real issues and the prevailing situation of the institutions that are responsible for the skills training of the human resource sector.

Let us consider the fact that the national government has been faced with the major challenge of fighting poverty which can only be fought in an intensified way if more jobs are created to sustain the economic activities and improve the lives of both the rural and urban poor.

Because of this, the TVET industry is faced with a the difficult challenge of ensuring that skills meet industry demands that will make our manpower competitive both in the local and international labor markets.

To start with, let us look at the status of human resources in Mindanao based on data from government agencies.

Profile of Mindanao’s human resources

Mindanao has a total labor force of 8,435,878 as of April 2005, majority are from Region X. Surprisingly, Mindanao’s employment rate of 91.7% is even higher than the national average of 87.1%26% of the country’s employed persons are in Mindanao.

26% of the country’s employed persons are in Mindanao.

ARMM region where you find most of Mindanao’s poor has the lowest employment rate at 7.2%.

51% of the total Mindanaoans are employed in the agricultural sector.

Literacy level

Functional literacy is a higher level of literacy which includes not only reading and writing skills but also numerical and comprehension skills. Mindanao is lowest in simple and functional literacy compared to other island groups.

Full attention must therefore be given to our growing population to improve our literacy rates. The increasing number of illiterates reflects the inability of basic education to answer to the needs of the growing population. Education is still the main source of basic skills. The impact therefore of literacy on the lives of learners in terms of improved family life cannot be discounted.

TVET Profile

One aspect that we should also look into is the profile of our TVET considering that these are the sources of the human resources more so when so many of our workers have continuously leave for abroad and overseas seeking for greener pastures. It is unfortunate that majority of our Highschool graduates are all looking for course options that will facilitate their employment to foreign countries

Our TVET institutions in Mindanao have been increasing their output during the last few years . There are over 500 providers of technical skills now and 62% are private institutions, while the rest are government-run centers. Among the other providers are higher education institutions (HEIs), industry-based training centers, non-government organization-based training centers, local government unit-based training centers and TESDA supervised schools and training centers.

These institutions have registered and complied with government implemented standards through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, the agency that regulates them. Complying with the set of standards are mandatory considering that the government wants to assure that the quality of our workers meet the standards set not only by local employers but also by the international markets.

With this in Mindanao, the Mindanao TVET Association, which is the strongest and the biggest technical vocationl schools organization is gearing its institutional focus to expanding and strengthening private technical and vocational institutions through technical capacity building, which is deemed necessary to provide the skills requirement demands of the industries and directed towards critical areas where impact is expected.

Based on the data for 2006, TVET institutions had a total enrolment of 718,576 seats just in Mindanao, from just about 477,667 in 2001, or a 54% increase, an indication that they have earned recognition that these institutions have continuously rendered the skills called for by both the global and domestic market.

(Joji Ilagan Bian is a strong and respected advocate for the development of the island. She is Chair of Joji Ilagan Career Center Foundation (www.jojiilagancareercenter.com); Phil. Call Centers Alliance, Mindanao Tech Voc Schools Association; Mindanao Rep, Export Development Council. Email comments jojibian2@yahoo.com )