Jobless ICT graduates hold rally

Graduates of information and communication technology (ICT) staged a rally Friday at the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) office in Pasig City to press the government to regulate closely and upgrade the quality of education in information technology to make graduates globally competitive.

Armed with a giant toga to symbolize their having finished their studies, the graduates – who came from ICT schools in Metro Manila, Bicol, Cebu, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and other parts of the country, marched from the Pasig City Hall to the CHED headquarters to present their grievance to Chairman Manuel Punzal that they remained unemployed despite their education.

The rallyists was joined by the non-government organization U-Lead composed of former student activists, who said they have decided "to sympathize with the graduates to expose the true plight of 2002 graduates and previous ones."

"The government ought to monitor the status of IT schools and if possible pressure them to show their success at employing their graduates with business firms," said U-Lead spokesman Larry Madarang. "Only the graduates can propel our country as the IT hub in Asia. But with the present status of our IT education, the future looks dim and uncertain."

"We from U-Lead call on the government to regulate IT schools in the country so that we can produce graduates that are world class. We challenge the Arroyo government to make good its promise to give priority to generating IT related jobs," he added.

"We call on the business sector to join us in pushing for better quality IT education because in the end, it is the business sector that will reap the benefits in the form of highly knowledgeable and efficient IT personnel," Madarang said.