HS grads urged to take up high tech courses

Filipino high school students will have a brighter future if they take up high-technology courses instead of going to the regular liberal arts and commerce education, a business leader said yesterday.

Raul Concepcion, chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries, said the future looks bleak for the millions of graduating liberal arts and commerce students. He pointed out that there is very little employment demand for liberal arts and commerce graduates.

On the other hand, Concepcion pointed out, there is a growing demand for highly technical courses.

He said engineers are still in demand as well as those with training in computers and information technology.

Concepcion pointed out that even in Concepcion Industries which manufactures household appliances, computers are replacing most of their clerical staff.

On the other hand, Concepcion noted, there is a lack of highly-technical and trained graduates.

Concepcion said the Philippine economy will continue to remain weak despite the change in administration. He said that even with the takeover by the Arroyo administration, the Philippine economy would remain weak due to the US economic slowdown.

Concepcion pointed out that the Philippine market is closely tied to the US economy. Thus, when the US economy goes into a slump, the Philippine economy is likely to follow suit.

Fortunately, he said the slowdown is not serious enough to force industries to adopt a three-day or four-day work week as he had predicted during the last few months of the Estrada administration. – Marianne Go