TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—If you want a job, don’t go to college.
This, in essence, was the message to students graduating from high school by the Eastern Visayas office of the Department of Education (DepEd).
The DepEd in the region said the chances of landing jobs were higher if high school graduates took vocational courses, instead of spending four years for a college course.
Imelda Parado, DepEd regional information officer, said high school graduates should not be quick to plunge into four-year college courses because a college diploma won’t guarantee them jobs.
“We are pushing students to take vocational courses,” said Parado.
Taking vocational courses, she said, offered two advantages—it doesn’t take as long as college courses and “there is a guarantee that they can find employment both here and abroad.”
She said vocational courses also won’t cost as much as college courses because these are being offered by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for minimal fees.
Parado said many high school graduates expressed preference for going to college for four-year courses, like nursing, despite the reality that job opportunities for these courses were becoming scarce.
She said only two things happen to students who insist on going to college for courses with no immediate job opportunity—“Either they land a job as call center agents or count themselves as among those without jobs.”
On the other hand, Parado said taking a vocational course could be financially rewarding to parents and students.
“Anyway, if the student would really like to finish a four-year course, he can still do,” said Parado. A vocational course doesn’t prevent a student from proceeding to college.
“It will just be sort of a stepping stone,” she said.
She said DepEd was planning to explain the advantages of vocational courses to parents in a campaign for awareness and acceptance.
Starting this week, she said, DepEd and regional offices of the Department of Labor and Employment would reach out to parent-teachers associations of each school in Eastern Visayas to introduce vocational courses as an alternative to college degrees. –Joey A. Gabieta, Philippine Daily Inquirer
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