A NON-government organization (NGO) is offering free training to Grade 12 students, in cooperation with public and private-sector companies, to give these students better job opportunities.
Under the program in collaboration with the Department of Education (DepEd), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the youth, including the out-of-school youth, are encouraged to avail of free training from select companies through YouthWorks PH, a non-government organization (NGO).
According to Philippine Business for Education (PBed) Executive Director Lovelaine Bassilote during the first-ever YouthWorks PH Skills Partnership Summit held recently and carried the theme “Back on Track: Paving the path to prosperity with a skilled young workforce,” the summit aims to show the new face of tech-voc education, one of the sectors that respond to a changing global labor environment since it encourages participation and partnership with the private sector.
It was in May 2018 when YouthWorks PH was launched by the PBEd and USAID where it successfully opened 13,734 work-based training opportunities for the youth with help from the public and private sector.
At present, 4,299 youth were successfully placed under the program. Despite the pandemic, 62 percent of the program graduates are already employed.
Bassilote said there are already 12 technical-vocational school partners, including the TESDA’s Tesda Online Program, and 37 company partners in providing wraparound support for youth training in order to give them fair opportunities.
The program was also developed because the country’s unemployment rate among the youth have already doubled in number.
” Our response was YouthWorks PH; in our belief that improving youth employability and achieving shared prosperity can be done, and the government, schools, and employers – especially employers – have a big role to play in making this happen. When the youth have access to industry-responsive and innovative training, wrap-around support, and employment opportunities, they are empowered to lead better and productive lives,” Bassilote pointed out.
According to Bassilote, the workforce should be revitalized since 15 percent of the workforce in the country are aged 15-24 years old.
” Workforce revitalization cannot happen without the youth. Such revitalization cannot happen without a new and industry-driven career and technical education ecosystem,” Bassilote said.
“Tech-voc workers are important backbone of industries, and tech-voc jobs are essential in powering the Philippine economy. We saw this as we implemented YouthWorks during the pandemic years,” she added.
Bassilote said they will pitch the program to local government units (LGUs) to make it easier to encourage the youth to look at the job opportunities that they usually can’t avail of, and YouthWorks PH aims to improve the skills of the country’s youth workforce.