A Misconception: When you’re “bobo” you go with tech-voc instead of college

Towards an Improved Pinoy Technical Vocational Education and Training

● Technical-vocational education in the Philippines has always been an

unpopular choice among high school graduates because it is

perceived that getting a technical-vocational education is not

glamorous as there is no prestige, no recognition, no job security and

no professional status in working in the technical-vocational field. In

short, having a technical-vocational background is considered inferior

compared to a university degree and only the ‘bobo’ enroll in these

courses.

● This kind of notion should be eradicated because “Hindi bobo ang

Pinoy technical-vocational graduates.” If our technical-vocational

institutes (TVI) are managed and monitored well, they will be able to

produce world-class and skilled graduates who can compete strongly

against our neighboring countries. Tech-voc graduates fill an important role in different industries in the country and overseas. And

if our tech-voc graduates become job-ready and globally competitive,

they could contribute a lot to the national income and economy.

● In the Philippines, the two main agencies tasked in providing basic

education in the country are DepEd or Department of Education for

the academics and TESDA which stands for Technical Education and

Skills Development Authority, which is mandated to provide direction,

policies, programs and standards towards quality technical education

and skills development. The two bodies should complement each

other so that there will be no overlapping of roles that could create

conflicts in the implementation of their programs. However, it seems

that the curriculum from these two bodies have created some

challenges for both of them. Eversince K-12 curriculum has been

implemented, DepEd has gotten some resources from TESDA

because the tech-voc curriculum should be handled by experts in the

technical field and not by a regular teacher. So this phenomena,

which was unseen as the would-be effect of the K-12, needs to be

resolved.

● TESDA should be given complete responsibility by the government

for technical and vocational training, a separate agency from DOLE,

DTI and DepEd. However, TESDA needs to go beyond providing

instructions and training. Skills assessment should be thorough and

must meet globally-competitive criteria.

● Reshaping TESDA

It is proposed that TESDA curriculum be two tracks: meaning the

courses offered will be either Professional Tracks (service oriented)

or Livelihood Tracks (product oriented).

● TESDA should be independent from other government agencies in

terms of providing technical-vocational training and education.

However, other agencies can complement because agencies like

DepEd, help in the basic education of children, while DOLE and DTI give assistance in the employment and livelihood programs

respectively.