PRESIDENT Arroyo yesterday advised students
to pursue "ladderized" education since not all of them are
bright enough or have the means to take up college courses.
Under the ladderized program of the
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda)
students are taught marketable technical/vocational skills.
The subjects taken may later be credited
when the students decide to pursue college courses.
The President said technical and skilled
workers are more in demand locally and abroad than college
degree holders.
She said those who studied welding and
butchery under Tesda were able to receive higher pay than
management graduates who ended up as clerks.
"Mag-technical muna sila bago sila tumuloy
sa college. Kasi ang laki-laki ng sweldo ng welders and
butchers kaysa sa sweldo ng clerk," she said.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said 1.1
million college graduates are without jobs while there are
650,000 vacancies for highly skilled workers.
Lapus added that based on the National
Career Assessment Examinations conducted by the DepEd in
January, two out of three fourth-year high school students
lack the scholastic aptitude to pursue a college education.
DepEd said about 711, 526 students or 54.51
percent of the takers showed an aptitude for technical or
vocational courses. It said nearly half of students in this
category or 33,444 showed very high scores of 98 to 99
percent. At least 2,000 examinees registered superior aptitude
for vocational/technical courses.
Genuine Opposition senatorial candidate
Francis Escudero blamed the poor quality of high school
graduates on the failure of the government to create a
condition conducive to education.
Escudero, in a statement, said the low NCAE
scores are not due to innate deficiency of the students but in
the inability of the government to give them the support so
they can develop their full potential.
"The children attend classes under the most
adverse condition now we’re reaping the fruit of government
indifference," he said.
He said he fully supports the government’s
vocational education program "but it is wrong to assume that
technical courses do not require much intelligence." "Students
taking up these courses need a working knowledge of English
and mathematics, the very subjects which this year’s graduates
have failed to master," he said.
He warned that if DepEd persists with its
mindset it "is creating a generation fit only to do manual,
unskilled work."
Escudero said the meager budget for
education results in lack of classrooms and the exodus of
teachers because of low pay.
He said the low scores are also symptomatic
of the worsening economic condition.
"Government corruption causes the high poverty incidence.
And as you may have guessed, corruption extends to the
education department," he said. – Jocelyn Montemayor
