Education secretary Sonny Angara welcomes Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong with a handshake prior to launching EQUIP which aims to produce job-ready senior high school graduates. (Photo from DepEd)
Filipino senior high school graduate students will soon have greater access to industry-driven training as the Department of Education (DepEd) launched in cooperation with the Australian government a new billion-peso partnership that aims to prifuce Filipino graduates who are job-ready and qualified for immediate employment.
At the Mariano Marcos Memorial High School in Manila, education secretary Sonny Angara and Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong unveiled the AUD40 million (approximately ₱1.6 billion) Education Quality for Inclusive Prosperity (EQUIP) program that targets improving the employability of senior high school graduates.
According to Secretary Angara, aside from DepEd, the five-year initiative will also the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) led by director general Jose Francisco Benitez.
“Through this partnership, let us continue building an education system that equips our learners with the competencies, confidence, and character they need to succeed in the future they deserve,” he noted.
For his part, Minister Wong cited that
“Australia and the Philippines have been working in partnership on education for over 30 years (and) as a trusted friend, Australia is proud to work with the Philippines on education reforms.”
The Australian offucial explained that “a quality and accessible senior secondary school education system will give business and industry the skilled workforce it needs and help the Philippine economy to grow.”
Under the EQUIP program, concerns on skills gaps will be addressed by producing senior high school graduates who are work-ready and adaptable to changing labor market demands.
“It will revamp work immersion programs with support from Australian institutions such as Melbourne Polytechnic, The Gordon Institute and the Australian Council for Educational Research,” Angara spelled out.
Accordingly, industry stakeholders will also help develop training programs in key sectors, including construction, healthcare, information and communications technology, tourism, transport and logistics and manufacturing.
In addition, EQUIP will integrate technical-vocational pathways into secondary education and strengthen collaboration between DepEd and TESDA even as literacy and numeracy interventions for students who require additional support will likewise be provided extensibly.
In addition, teachers will also receive capability-building training, while new data systems will be introduced to improve planning and match learners with industry opportunities.
Metro Manila has been designated as the program’s initial implementation area, with five schools selected to reflect diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and institutional settings.
The pilot schools were named as the Mariano Marcos Memorial High School in Manila, Lagro High School and Batasan Hills National High School in Quezon City, Dalandanan National High School in Valenzuela and Don Arcadio Santos National High School in Parañaque.