MANILA (September 16) — The Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority have agreed to collaborate on developing curricula for industries deemed vital to the country’s economic growth.
The two agencies’ ongoing concerns about graduates’ abilities not matching the labor market are the reason for the collaboration.
The agreement, made official by a joint memorandum circular signed on Monday, September 15, establishes unified bodies to oversee curriculum standards in six sectors identified by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2): advanced manufacturing, digital technology, healthcare, financial services, tourism, and the creative economy.
During a conference for the Workforce Development National Plan in July, EDCOM 2, a group appointed by Congress to evaluate and suggest reforms in the education system, named the six “priority clusters.”
The commission’s study discovered that, while the highlighted industries have a high potential for growth, they are nonetheless impeded by skilled worker shortages and chronic mismatches between training programs and labor demand.
CHED and TESDA currently have separate curriculum-setting bodies—technical panels for higher education and industrial boards for technical-vocational training. The new memorandum consolidates these tasks under a single framework, which officials say will assist streamline program development and reduce duplication.
According to EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee, the agreement is in response to the commission’s appeal to create a “working educational system.”
The memorandum establishes a Board for Curriculum Standards and Discipline, as well as Sector Skills Councils, consisting of CHED, TESDA, and industry representatives. These groups are supposed to:
- draft five-year roadmaps for their respective industries,
- contribute to the development of Philippine Skills Frameworks, and
- establish “ladderized” pathways linking TVET and higher education programs.
The measure fills the deficiencies found by EDCOM 2, according to CHED Chairperson Shirley Agrupis, who also noted that graduates need to possess industry-relevant competences in addition to their academic credentials.
According to Kiko Benitez, director general of TESDA, the collaboration will make vocational training “more dynamic and responsive to industry needs.”
Previous reports from EDCOM 2 have observed that poor coordination among education and training agencies, particularly DepEd, CHED, and TESDA, is a major impediment to reform.
The commission and other education professionals have long stressed the importance of harmonization.
The agreement between TESDA and CHED serves as an “integral first step in implementing the strategies outlined in the Commission’s National Education and Workforce Development Plan, which will be launched this year to steer the country towards a more integrated, data-driven, and competitive education and workforce ecosystem,” according to a press release from EDCOM 2.
According to EDCOM 2, since the “trifocalization” or separation of education agencies into DepEd, CHED, and TESDA in the 1990s, there has been a “lack of effective coordination among education agencies toward agreed-upon goals.”
The first EDCOM in the 1990s recommended dividing education agencies into three to allow each to focus on the unique issues of certain sectors, in this case, basic, higher, and technical-vocational education.
