Tech-voc centers to aid in K-12 implementation

PRIVATELY-run technical vocational institutions can be helpful partners for the successful implementation of the K-12 education system.

With this, the Center for Healthcare Professions Cebu Inc. (CHP Cebu) announced plans to offer courses for senior high school students starting next school year, in time for the opening of senior levels, Grade 11 and 12, under the new curriculum.

“We’ve seen the potential (for tech-voc schools to participate in the K-12 system) because many public schools do not have the facility to implement senior high and we would want to help them,” said CHP Cebu president and chief executive officer Bernard C. Restificar, in a press conference yesterday.

CHP Cebu is a Tesda-accredited technical-vocational training and competency assessment center based in Mandaue City.

The partnership with the Department of Education is still pending, as CHP Cebu is waiting approval. Once approved, CHP Cebu will be one of the training-providers under the K-12 curriculum for schools in Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City, and Bohol Province, specifically in the technical-vocational livelihood track, one of the options senior high school students can take.

Others, meanwhile, can choose to follow the academic track, which includes three strands: business, accountancy, management (BAM); humanities, education, social sciences (HESS); and science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM). This is ideal for students who want to pursue college education, said Dr. Fay C. Luarez, DepEd Mandaue educational program supervisor. There is also the arts and sports track for those who want to pursue careers in these fields.

However, she clarified that those who follow the tech-voc track can still pursue college.

“It is even better that they get the tech-voc trainings so when they graduate high school, they already have the skills,” Luarez said.

After finishing a technical-vocational-livelihood track in Grade 12, a student can obtain a National Certificate Level II (NC II), provided he/she passes the competency-based assessment of Tesda, which then makes the student eligible for employment.

In the case of CHP Cebu, Restificar said it can accommodate 10,000 senior high school students. Some trainings can be conducted in their facility in Mandaue City while others will be conducted in the respective public schools where CHP can bring its teachers and equipment.

CHP Cebu currently offers 26 courses, mainly in the areas of healthcare, tourism, and language like caregiving, pharmacy services, housekeeping, massage therapy, and Nihonggo and English language courses.

The school also boasts of its high employment rate of alumnae, with over 84 percent of its graduates from 2010 to 2012 getting hired after graduation. It has been in the industry for 13 years now.

DepEd officials have also called on other tech-voc schools to participate in the implementation of the K-12 by offering their trainings to senior high schools, citing the scarcity of public tech-voc schools to serve the students. In Mandaue City alone, Luarez said only two out of the eight public high schools in have tech-voc trainings.

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/business/2015/08/12/tech-voc-centers-aid-k-12-implementation-424253