Senior high school years wasted?

Many senior high school students who expect to graduate academic school year 2023-2024 will most likely realize that nothing much has changed with the added two years they had put in under the K to 12 law, or the Enhanced Basic Education Act.

Senior high school (SHS), or Grades 11 and 12, was added by law to the country’s basic education curriculum in 2013 to enhance the employability and readiness of high school graduates for college or immediate employment in the workforce through technical-vocational programs, or to go directly into entrepreneurship.

However, after spending an additional two years in high school, graduates often found little value that helped make a difference in their pursuit of tertiary education in colleges or universities, or simply in finding a job in shop floors or service industries.

For those who had decided to pursue an academic track, meaning that they looked forward to enrolling in a college or university where they can get a degree in programs such as engineering, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, the added two years showed no significant improved aptitude in their next four or more years of tertiary education.

What mattered more, as in the past before the passage of the K to 12 law, was the quality of the college or university where one got a degree. Chances are, a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University would have a better chance of landing a higher paying job than one from a public university, especially if this was located outside of Metro Manila.

The added two years in high school also did not ensure that today’s college or university graduate would be given a higher wage, something that they could have already gained if they had started working two years earlier in the company.

More importantly, graduates from our better schools still found it difficult to compete for overseas jobs against those from other colleges or universities in other countries even in the region without going for a masters or doctorate degrees.

TVL track

Employers are likewise not impressed with SHS graduates that choose the technical-vocational-livelihood (TVL) track but did not take the National Certification Test given by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Of the almost half a million SHS students who decided on a TVL track, only about a fourth are able to secure a TESDA certification, which is often required by employers looking for blue-collar workers. Without the certification, those who are hired for jobs are often assigned as trainees with correspondingly lower pay.

Again, had these graduates devoted two years in SHS as on-the-job trainees upon Grade 10 graduation, they would likely have become already regular members of the workforce receiving a better compensation package.

The Department of Education (DepEd) attributes the aversion of TVL track students to taking a TESDA certification to the examination fees, which range from P200 to P1,000. It’s ironical that such a seemingly paltry sum will simply put to waste the two years of extra schooling in SHS.

DepEd is currently reviewing the SHS program, and the results are expected to be ready only next year. One of the early findings that would need action is the work immersion program that employers say does not really provide solid skills for future jobs.

The certification given by TESDA also seems to be below industry standard, which could be a reason why even certificate holders do not receive the equivalent wage that corresponds to the two years of SHS technical and vocational training.

TVL track graduates also are given a much lower starting salary compared to academic track graduates, which explains why only about 20 percent of SHS students choose to pursue a technical or vocational education.

TESDA track

TESDA manages its own technical vocational courses, and while there remains to be seen a credible study on the benefits of its programs specific to providing better job opportunities and a chance to improving skills for higher competency levels, the agency boasts of far more graduates.

In its yearend 2022 report, based on the results of its most recent Study on Employment of TVET graduates (SETG), TESDA claims that eight out of 10 of its technical vocational education and training (TVET) graduates found employment, although it wasn’t clear what kinds of jobs.

TESDA also noted that over 1.2 million Filipinos were enrolled in the more than 17,000 technical and vocations schools last year, which included the TESDA Technology Institutions, public TVET providers, and those dubious privately-run technical and vocational schools nationwide.

This year, TESDA vows to bring TVET to 1.8 million Filipinos. This would run to an impressive number compared to only 400,000 SHS students currently enrolled in the TVL track.

If the quality of TVET graduates would just equal those of SHS graduates, then DepEd is due for some serious soul-searching on the relevance and effectiveness of continuing with the TVL track, and perhaps even on the need for two more years in basic education.

The TESDA system offers a flexibility in adjusting the kind of technical and vocational courses that industry needs, especially now that it is now attached to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) after President Marcos Jr. issued an executive order transferring it from the Department of Trade and Industry.

More recently, TESDA was able to tweak TVET support for the agriculture sector by allocating 30 percent of its total scholarship budget to courses that support agriculture, forestry, and fishery. This flexibility would not have been possible at the DepEd.

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