NONPROFIT organization Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) said enhancements to the on-the-job training (OJT) system are expected to improve the employability of Kinder to Grade 12 (K-12) program graduates.
“To help senior high school students become more employable, we really have to give them additional support and training,” according to Justine B. Raagas, PBEd program director for workforce development, speaking on the sidelines of a forum last week.
Ms. Raagas said PBEd has found that a strong OJT system or work immersion helps make K-12 graduates attractive to employers.
“Immersion is very important because it gives students a chance to interface with employers,” she said. “If we’re able to strengthen that and at the same time bring in private sector inputs, they will be more responsive, and the graduates will really learn the skill sets that are needed in the workplace.”
She said companies’ lack of experience in working with K-12 graduates is one of the reasons why they are reluctant to hire them.
“What we found is that they see the kids in the workplace, and they find out that they are capable, that’s when they are able to hire. So, interface is very important, (as are) inputs to the curriculum to embed workplace-ready competencies,” she said.
Ms. Raagas said educational institutions could expand immersion programs to a minimum of one month.
“We do think that the 80 hours or the about two weeks length really just very surface-level. Lengthening it, I think, is something that would be up for discussion,” she said.
“What we’ve seen in our experience is that something as little as a month can actually already help,” she added.
A PBEd project, YouthWorks PH indicates the effectivity of a one-month immersion period in raising employability.
“In some cohorts, it’s 70% employability, but in very recent cohorts almost 100% of the batch were hired immediately by the same company which trained them,” she said.
“Many of the companies that we talk to are highly encouraged to provide a stipend, transportation allowance or food allowance. But what we see is that it’s very important to provide these kinds of support — we call this wraparound support,” she added.
She said PBEd programs have seen lack of resources as a cause for participants dropping out. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
