Govt, private sector partner to produce 2K graduates skilled in  AI, cybersecurity - video Dailymotion

The Manila Times

Govt, private sector partner to produce 2K graduates skilled in  AI, cybersecurity  About 2,600 young individuals are set to launch their careers in artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and data analytics after completing the skills training initiative by the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) and Citi Foundation. During the culmination activity held in Makati City on Jan. 23, 2025, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Director-General Jose Francisco Benitez said that the JobsNext program of PBEd and Citi would help the government harness new talents, especially in the face of Industrial Revolution 4.0  VIDEO BY RED MENDOZA  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net     Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes #TMTNews #Philippines #AI

Transcript

00:00It's incredibly important, particularly now that most companies are beginning to shift

00:07towards what we call a skills-based organization, where they identify very specific skills that

00:15they expect their workforce to be able to do.

00:20So lifelong learning is incredibly crucial because of the changes.

00:28You can assume that by the time you reach—which is what Singapore assumes, for example—that

00:33by the time you reach 40, no matter how high you have climbed, many of your skills are

00:40no longer relevant.

00:42New jobs have emerged, new tools have emerged, and therefore you need to upskill and upgrade

00:47yourself.

00:48Sometimes not by very much, but nonetheless, the need to adapt is there because technology

00:55changes so, so rapidly now.

00:58So there's an ongoing discussion about the senior high school curriculum, and we need

01:03to try to make sure that the students, particularly those that take the tech walk tracks, are

01:09employable or employment-ready by the time they graduate.

01:17So part of the initiative in the curriculum development and design is to find ways to

01:24make sure that the training regulations needed for specific national certificates of TESDA

01:30can be embedded so that the students have the time to do the training and the capacity

01:38to be assessed and then provided with their NCs.

01:43The other one is, because TESDA is so closely aligned with industry, the development of

01:53an apprenticeship program, or what we call in the general eBet, in the general learnership,

02:01in the eBet law, there's a whole category for work immersion even for senior high school

02:08students.

02:09So TESDA is also part and parcel of trying to figure out what would be the most appropriate

02:15types of training, training plans, for example, of work immersion, and even the extension

02:23of the amount of time students can spend in industry.

02:29That's all part of the conversations that we are having now, but it is a work in progress.

02:34What it does is actually allow students the greater capacity to explore their passions

02:41and what it is that they may want to do.

02:45There will always be a cost benefit that students and parents, I suppose, need to face, that

02:54if, for example, they really want to do STEM, there may be a way by which they need to take

03:00mostly STEM subjects, right?

03:03But the way it's structured now doesn't preclude their exploration of other potential pathways

03:09and tracks as they become, in fact, college ready in the academic track.

03:16But even then, if they choose to go to work after that, then they need to find ways to

03:22make up for whatever training they may have lacked or be ready for slightly longer apprenticeships,

03:31perhaps, which is, again, another category within the newly passed enterprise-based education

03:39and training law.

03:42It's a two-year cycle, right? So grade 11 will change this June, so it's mostly the

03:48core subjects that will be changed.

03:51Ongoing will be attempts to identify specific TVET skills even within the academic track

03:58subjects that students may choose to take moving forward. I think that's going to be

04:05a consequence of our micro-credential system that we're working out now. Hopefully, a few

04:12of those will be ready for the school year from June onwards.

04:16A study at the beginning was to show that maybe only two out of five, so that's 20 percent,

04:26wanted or willing. But the most recent one is that has gone up to 60 percent, and it

04:32looks like it's going up even more. The only way to ensure that is for TESDAS certification

04:41process to be truly industry-aligned.

04:45So if our certification is verified in terms of what kind of skills and the proficiency

04:51levels of those skills with what industry expects, and we fulfill it as a promise, the

04:58market will shift. The industries will take on more and more high school, I suppose, senior

05:08high school graduates rather than college graduates per se. Along the same lines, the

05:16reforms in the apprenticeship program should mean it is even more robust. So if they are

05:22a senior in senior high school, they can get an apprentice if they are not qualified. Maybe

05:27one more year, but after one year, they are really qualified for the position. Which really,

05:36or sometimes two years if one year is not enough. Most countries in the world have a

05:40three-year cycle or length for a worker to undergo an apprenticeship, regardless of whether

05:48or not they go to college. So it depends on the domain, the industrial sector. It depends

05:56on the type of job the student is looking for. But I think the current conversations

06:03between CHED, TESDA, and DepEd is creating a clearer career progression and pathways

06:11for our students, including skills, qualifications, and apprenticeships, for example.

06:22So the request is out there. As many, for example, of PBED's own business members,

06:32but not just PBED, the Chamber of Commerce, all the Chambers of Commerce, for example,

06:39if they were willing to take on dual training systems, if they were willing to take on apprenticeships,

06:48if they were willing to take part in the enterprise-based education and training, to create the fast-track

06:55training that the students need, that the industry needs to ensure that we can bridge

07:03the job skills mismatch, the more of them take it on, the faster this transition will

07:12become. Well, we don't. It's a completely separate age group. It's a completely separate

07:20type of training. But what TESDA, CHED, and DepEd, although this is being led by DepEd,

07:27one of the ways to do it, as I had already said, is to really partner with civil society.

07:37There are various programs in government to adopt a school. There are various incentives

07:43for private businesses to take part in capacitating our people. And this is not just for TESDA.

07:50So you can adopt a school in DepEd and give them the tablets that they need. And there

07:56are many such efforts. The question now is, can it be systematic? And can it be at scale?

08:04To make sure, in fact, that we do it for enough of our students. So the more partners we can,

08:11the wider we can spread the load and the burden, and in fact, the greater impact there will

08:17be financially. But beyond the financial, the breadth of partnerships and the breadth

08:26of stakeholder participation impresses upon the general public how important the sector

08:34and the initiative is. That might be, in fact, the greatest gain that we might get as a country.

Govt, private sector partner to produce 2K graduates skilled in AI, cybersecurity

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