After a Sept. 15 industry dialogue, Education Secretary Sonny Angara pushed stronger links between Senior High School training and actual jobs. DepEd has partnered with over 170 institutions and secured 31,000 work immersion slots across 1,100 job roles.
The commitments cover more than 60% of DepEd’s 50,000-slot target. Partner sectors include manufacturing, semiconductors, IT-BPM, healthcare, construction, energy, logistics, agribusiness, finance, and tourism.
“Our graduates must enter the workforce with genuine hands-on experience and real competencies,” Angara said.
DepEd said direct industry consultation helps align classroom training with workplace requirements.
Industry leaders said entry-level work increasingly requires complex decision-making, critical thinking and advanced digital capability. They also pushed workplace safety, soft skills and ethical values in early career training.
DepEd is also reducing the SHS framework from four tracks to two: Academic and Technical-Vocational-Livelihood. TechPro will combine structured immersion, mentoring and industry assessments linked to national skills certifications.
“We cannot build a future-ready economy with yesterday’s skills framework,” Angara said.
He said expanded immersion should create clearer pathways to jobs, entrepreneurship and higher learning.
TechPro learners will receive joint training plans and hands-on mentoring designed with industry partners. The model also gives students more subject flexibility while expanding practical workplace exposure.
The reform targets the labor market’s “missing middle” of technicians, technologists and associate professionals. DepEd plans closer alignment between the Philippine Qualifications Framework and industry skills standards.
The reform also extends the same direction seen in the Philippines’ latest PISA gains: improving how students apply what they learn in real situations. After the country posted its strongest PISA results since joining in 2018, Angara is now pushing that progress further by linking Senior High School training more directly to workplace skills, industry standards, and actual employment pathways.
DepEd will next hold sector-specific discussions to identify emerging job roles and update work immersion guidelines. It also plans to integrate real-time labor market information into the national curriculum.
