National Career Assessment Exam rescheduled due to 'Pedring'

MANILA, Philippines - Aside from disrupting classes, typhoon “Pedring” also caused the postponement of the National Career Assessment Examinations (NCAE) by the Department of Education (DepEd).

The DepEd said “operational and administrative limitations” brought by the typhoon especially in Regions I, II, III, IV-A and IV-B, V, the Cordillera Administrative Region and Metro Manila forced the deferment of the NCAE scheduled today up to Sept. 30.

The DepEd is also monitoring the effects of the typhoon in a bid to ensure immediate mobilization of funds and personnel for repair of affected school buildings.

DeEd communications unit director Cristina Ganzon said they have set up an operation center with a hotline where school heads can immediately report damage and flood situations in their localities.

“We encourage our school and division personnel as well as the community to report damage in schools to the DepEd operation center that will be open 24 hours for monitoring through hotline numbers 0939-6521111, fax 633-7263 and e-mail [email protected],” Ganzon said.

Ganzon said DepEd still has around P120 million in funds for disaster quick response for mobilization to address repair needs of affected schools.

On the other hand, DepEd Undersecretary for Legal and Legislative Affairs Alberto Muyot said the postponement of the NCAE would allow DepEd and its National Education Testing and Research Center (NETRC) to better prepare for the exams.

DepEd will administer the NCAE this year to third year public and private high school students instead of the graduating fourth year high school students.

However, the NCAE will still be administered to select graduating fourth year high school students, particularly to those who are applying for scholarship programs offered by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the decision to give the NCAE to third year high school students would allow DepEd to guide the students on their career choices much earlier.

The results of the NCAE will show the interest and career inclination of the student, whether it is technical-vocational, entrepreneurial, or a full college education course.

The NCAE is given by the government to address .job mismatch, cut unemployment rate, and reverse the local brain drain phenomenon.

The examinations mainly tend to identify students who are more suited to take up technical-vocational training instead of having to struggle through college.

DepEd and TESDA pointed out the thousands of good-paying jobs needed by local industry that remains unfilled due to a lack of trained workers, while there are few white-collar jobs open to college graduates.

DepEd noted that present conditions indicate that a large number of college graduates fail to find appropriate employment suited for the course they finish. 

This has resulted in unemployment and oversupply of college graduates in white-collar jobs while resulting in shortages in skilled manpower, DepEd said.

The NCAE is an assessment of students’ aptitudes and skills and estimates what field or discipline the student can excel in. It is non-discriminatory for people who have aptitude for technical-vocational and entrepreneurial courses.