TESDA lauds integrated education EO

MANILA, Philippines - The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has welcomed Executive Order 83 signed by President Aquino putting in place an integrated system of quality education that would address the mismatch in jobs and skills for gainful employment.

TESDA director-general Joel Villanueva said EO 83 would offer a “seamless framework that would allow students to move readily between and across different education and training sectors, as well as across labor markets.”

“For example, a Grade 10 graduate or the equivalent of our high school graduate may continue up to Grade 12 and get an National Certificate (NC) I or NC II, and after this, may proceed to higher education qualifications up to a doctorate degree. Or he may stop but may also be able to work because he has acquired the NC II qualification,” he said.

EO 83 institutionalizes the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF), a national policy that wove together basic education, technical-vocational education, and higher education into one coherent, quality-assured instrument for classifying qualifications.

This will be implemented by TESDA, Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) that will all have to craft a detailed description of their own qualification level.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Professional Regulation Commission, on the other hand, will be part of a technical working group tasked to define the PQF.

Under the EO, the 8-Level Qualifications Descriptions would give students the option to finish courses with a NC1, NC II, NC III, NC IV or graduate with a diploma degree, baccalaureate degree, post-baccalaureate degree or a doctoral degree.

Villanueva added the PQF is in line with the K-12 education program that the country has adopted starting this school year.