Turning challenges into opportunities

Last Oct. 5, as the planet celebrated World Teachers’ Day, we were reminded of two things: First, we can’t thank our teachers enough, and second, there’s so much more to be done to prepare them for their vastly expanded roles in a world where rapid technological advancements profoundly affect the ways we learn, work and live.

The time-honored belief that education is not just a function of employment still holds true. However, the global and highly collaborative nature of the modern workplace demands that our education institutions equip learners with radically different sets of competencies that quickly change, for jobs that are yet to be created. This is the biggest challenge that our teachers face today and in the years ahead.

Recently, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (Cocopea), Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (Pasuc), Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), and IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap) signed a historic seven-point memorandum of cooperation, witnessed by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd). The memorandum firmly underscores the shared obligation of education and industry to maximize human capacity and find prudent long-term solutions to national concerns and global challenges. It formalizes the signatories’ conviction to work together “with strong synergy” in forging mutually supportive industry-academe partnerships.

Cocopea is the voice and enabling organization of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities, Catholic Educational Associations of the Philippines, Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges and Universities, Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities, and Technical Vocational Schools Association of the Philippines. Pasuc, on the other hand, speaks for state-run universities and colleges.

Ibpap in turn brings to the table some 300 of the country’s most stable IT-BPM (Business Process Management) firms, as well as the memberships of its partner associations: the Philippine Software Industry Association, Contact Center Association of the Philippines, Animation Council of the Philippines, Global In-House Centers Council, Health Information Management Association of the Philippines, and Game Developers Association of the Philippines.

PBEd, meanwhile, has been at the forefront of education policy formulation and a stabilizing influence in education reform for several years now.

The signing of the memorandum of cooperation is the most direct response so far to the education-to-employment crisis facing the world today. Traditionally, industry and academe exist in different worlds. But the huge numbers of graduates unable to find work relevant to their field of study on one hand, and the exponentially increasing difficulty of employers in finding “the right fit” for their vacancies on the other, now compel industry and academe to discover areas of convergence that were not previously evident.

The tectonic shift in the education landscape brought about by Republic Act No. 10533 (the K-to-12 Law) gives added impetus to Item 2 of the memorandum of cooperation, which states that the parties in agreement shall “identify opportunities for faculty development including immersion in IT-BPM operations and externships to reinforce the [higher education] faculty’s theoretical knowledge with practical and up-to-date IT-BPM industry experience.”

Penny Bongato, Ibpap executive director for talent development, has been a frequent visitor to the office of CHEd Commissioner Cynthia Rose Bautista precisely to discuss the various scenarios for faculty immersion with a technical working group formed for this purpose.

Since the enactment of RA 10533, higher education institutions and education stakeholders have repeatedly pointed out that there will be a significant drop in college enrollment over the next five years beginning in 2016, when fourth year high school students will continue on to senior high school or Grades 11 and 12 under the K-to-12 system. That translates to an estimated total displacement of about 13,634 teaching personnel over the next five years.

We met recently with project development officers Donna Co and Amihan Ruiz, along with their deputy project manager Karol Mark Yee. Youthful and sharp, they provided Bongato, Ibpap project delivery director Jopat Lelay, and myself an overview of the CHEd’s K-to-12 Transition Program. But we spent much of the meeting discussing industry immersion for faculty because that could prove to be the key to enhancing the global competitiveness of our labor force and our education institutions.

According to Yee, Co and Ruiz, the transition years are virtually free of scheduling constraints, thus providing faculty with a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to develop relevant skills and content knowledge related to the field where they teach or work, including industry immersion “to ensure that instruction in college is relevant and grounded in industry practice and up-to-date scholarship.”

The issue of displaced faculty is a serious one, hence the CHEd’s K-to-12 Transition Program with its twofold goal of “mitigating the adverse impact of the transition on labor, and leveraging the opportunity to upgrade Philippine higher education.” With a proposed P8-billion budget, the program seeks “to turn challenges into opportunities.”

Industry is duty-bound to respond with equal intensity.

Butch Hernandez (butchhernandez@gmail.com) is the executive director of the Eggie Apostol Foundation and education lead for talent development at Ibpap.