Poor ‘soft skills?’ Group says industry should also train graduates, support skill development

MANILA, Philippines — A group of education advocates from the business sector said Thursday that the private sector should also train not just its own employees, but also future graduates to help address skill issues among them.

The Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) said that it “continues to advocate for workforce development initiatives even during the formative school years of Filipino graduates.” 

“We call for greater private sector participation in training not only their own people but also potential employees to minimize the job-skills gap in the country,” the group said.

This is after a Commission on Human Rights study found that problems in the K to 12 curriculum and the pandemic’s disruption on education led to poor development of “soft skills” for work among new graduates. 

The group said that it is pushing for the integration of lifelong learning — which involves the continued skill development of individuals even after graduating from formal schooling — in the recommendations that will be forwarded by EDCOM 2, the country's sole congressional commission that will review the country's education sector. 

PBed added that lifelong learning is also included into House Bill 00945 or the JobsNext bill, which seeks to incentivize workforce development through a skills voucher program.

PBed also said that its training model for unemployed and out-of-school youth — done primarily through core or soft skills training, technical-vocational training and work-based training — “would ensure youth would be able to acquire necessary skills in the workplace, since training is done actually on the ground,” it said.

Nearly 70% of PBed's trainees were immediately hired after training, the group noted.

The provision of these training programs also highlighted the “value of industry participation in the skils training of the youth,” PBed said.

It’s crucial for the government to “work closely” with the private sector to come up with programs that will make Filipinos employable after graduating from school, the group added.

“Skills are the currency of the future. With the changing economic landscape and advances in technology requiring a highly-skilled labor force, all sectors must work together in building pathways for lifelong learning to plug skills gaps and set up our workforce for greater productivity and competitiveness,” the group said.