SENATORS yesterday weighed-in on a Commission on Human Rights (CHR) situational report saying that fresh graduates have been having a hard time finding jobs since many of them lack “soft skills” and practical job skills due to online classes at the height of the pandemic.
Sen. Francis Tolentino said he is “not in total agreement” with the CHR report since soft skills, such as “time management, perceptiveness, listening and self-discipline, among others,” were developed among students during online classes.
Soft skills are related to a student’s empathy, creativity, resilience, and communication.
“Perhaps some interpersonal skills were not nurtured, but just the same, coupled with the hard skills they learned, our graduates are competitive,” Tolentino said.
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said the lack of soft skills “was already a problem of graduates before the pandemic” which the country’s educational system needs to address, alongside with poor reading comprehension.
“Parents must also do their part as much as possible, though this is difficult with OFW (overseas Filipino worker) parents and other realities on the ground,” Angara said, which he said can be tackled during the Second Congressional Commission on Education II, which is tasked to conduct a national review of the country’s education sector after the COVID-19 pandemic exacted a heavy toll on learning.
Sen. Grace Poe said the government, together with the private sector, “must put serious effort” to address the seeming lack of job readiness of graduates which hampers their employment.
“Both soft skills and technical expertise are keys to landing in quality jobs amid the tight market race,” Poe said.
She said the K to 12 program “needs an honest-to-goodness review” to determine what enhancement are needed to make it more responsive and relevant to the needs of students.
“We owe it to our learners to deliver on the promise of quality education and sustainable jobs,” she added.
The CHR earlier said that the country’s fresh graduates are finding it hard to be employed due to lack of soft skills and practical job skills which they could have developed in face-to-face classes.
The CHR said it was also found out that new graduates tend to experience “culture shock” upon entering the workplace “because their expectations differ from what they were taught at school.”
In relation to this, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged his colleagues to support the swift passage of Senate Bill No. 379 which seeks to strengthen the delivery of mental health services for the country’s basic education learners in a bid to address the problem of fresh graduates.
He said the technical working group on the proposed measure has concluded its meetings and “we are ready to sponsor the committee report” as soon as Congress resumes sessions on May 8.
“Our target is to have the measure approved on third and final reading before Congress adjourns sine die in June. It is high time we institute interventions to ensure that mental health services are within reach of our country’s learners,” he said.
Sen. Jose” Jinggoy” Estrada said he has been pushing for an enhanced apprenticeship program to promote skills acquisition and employment since 2014.
“I have re-filed this measure, Senate Bill No. 1083, or the proposed Apprenticeship Training Act in August last year,” he said.
Estrada said apprenticeship programs have the “unique capability” of immersing the youth workers in real-life employment atmospheres “enabling them to learn technical skills, practical knowledge and experience to make them employable and competitive.”
While the measure has yet to be passed, Estrada called on concerned government agencies to intensify and roll out training programs on re-skilling and upskilling of the country’s workforce.
Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the number of jobs being created in the country has not been able to keep in step with the number of individuals entering the labor force.
In a radio interview, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said the number of new members of the labor force outnumber the jobs regularly being created in the country, thereby causing unemployment rate to stay at 4.8 percent in February 2023.
“As usual, we will have new entrants in the labor force from those about to graduate this year. They will be added to the number of our labor force members,” said Laguesma, adding: “However, the number of jobs being created is insufficient when ranged with the number of those looking for jobs. That remains to be a big challenge for us.”
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, around 51.27 million Filipinos are part of the labor force as of February 2023.
On the other hand, an estimated 1.5 million Filipinos are expected to join the labor force at the conclusion of Academic Year 2022-23. — With Gerard Naval
