In a bid to improve the country’s education system, and to prepare Filipino graduates for work, four government agencies early last year signed two Joint Memorandum Circulars (JMC).
The Department of Education (DepEd), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) signed the JMCs following a directive from President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.
Jointly signed by TESDA and DepEd on 10 May 2024 was the JMC on Quality Assurance of Senior High School Technical Vocational Education.
Credit Transfer System for Career Pathing and Development
The JMC No. 01 that CHED and TESDA signed sought to implement the Philippine Credit Transfer System (PCTS), which “facilitates the seamless movement of students and finishers from a vocational course to a college degree program.” The PCTS is in line with the President’s call to give priority to “the upskilling and reskilling of the Philippine workforce and increase their employability.”
The system allows technological-vocational education students and graduates to earn credits for subjects they have taken from TESDA. Should they decide to eventually pursue bachelor’s degrees in colleges or universities, they could have these subjects credited, and need not enroll in these subjects for college anymore.
According to the TESDA Annual Report, “The PCTS implementation is governed by the principles of quality assurance, outcomes-based, institutional autonomy, academic freedom, learner-centeredness, fairness and transparency, and promotes cooperation and supports lifelong learning.”
The PCTS is in line with the passage of the Philippine Qualifications Framework Act (or Republic Act No. 10968) and the Ladderized Education Act (or RA 10647).
TESDA has been serving as the Interim Technical Secretariat for the PQF-National Coordinating Council, and it made several strides in year 2023: “established a permanent secretariat; indicated appropriate PQF levels in certificates, diplomas and PRC IDs; launched a nationwide credit transfer system; and endorsed the economic and industry sector representatives as PQF-NCC members,” the report stated. “TESDA and CHED – together with experts – shall determine the equivalencies to be employed in the PCTS at the national level as part of quality assurance. Higher education institutions (HEIs) and tech-voc institutions must adopt and ensure quality implementation of the approved credit arrangements within their institutions.”
Three sectors were identified for the pilot implementation of the program:
- Agriculture: Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering Technology
- Health: Nursing, Dental Hygiene and Dental Medicine programs
- Tourism: Hospitality Management
“The system shall aid learners, the education sector, the government, and the community by reducing inefficiencies in education and training delivery,” the report stated.
Apart from TESDA and CHED, two other government agencies, DepEd and DOLE on 10 May 2024 signed the JMC on the Embedment of TVET in the Senior High School curriculum. As a quality assurance mechanism, all SHS Grade 12 graduates of the TVL track in the public schools shall undergo mandatory assessment. The total target graduates to be assessed are 301,453.
From September to October last year, DepEd conducted workshops to finalize the SHS curriculum. The workshops aimed to align the curriculum guides with the revised K to 10 Curriculum, college readiness standards, and industry needs with what remain as SHS tracks: Academic and Technical-Professional.
The revised and streamlined DepEd curriculum will be implemented starting school year 2025-2026. This curriculum aims to make students more competent academically, make the SHS program more responsive to the demands of higher education and the labor market, and increase the chances of graduates of being employed.
The 10-point agenda of TESDA are:
- TESDA sa Barangay
- Review of TESDA Training regulations
- Prioritize the marginalized sectors by providing training programs to address skills mismatch and meet the demands of the industry
- Continuous monitoring of training program implementation of schools to ensure compliance with TESDA’s policies and guidelines
- Enhanced online application
- Promotion of rural enterprises and area development through TVET programs
- Youthpreneurship
- TESDA Industry Exchange program
- Halal TVET
- Strengthening and regeneration of the internal structure of the agency
