High school graduates should consider taking technical-vocational courses that could also help them find jobs after graduation, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general Joel Villanueva said this week.
“Instead of enrolling in oversubscribed degree courses, incoming college students can take up technical-vocational courses,” Villanueva said in a report in the Manila Times.
Among the courses that the Commission on Higher Education considers oversubscribed are education, business administration, hotel and restaurant management, and information technology. These popular programs produce more graduates than can be hired.
Villanueva said technical-vocational programs can help students find fobs in the construction, tourism, electronics, agro-fisheries, and business process outsourcing sectors.
He also said tech-voc education is gaining popularity, considering the number of programs that have already been approved by TESDA. The government has accredited 19,991 tech-voc programs and 4,000 public and private technical-vocational schools across the Philippines.
Villanueva made clear, however, that he is “not forcing (students) to take up technical-vocational programs.”
