K12 Graduates in the JOB-OPPORTUNITY World

Asliah Gubat ASSOCIATE EDITOR

If authority ignores the skills of graduates, it will fade as time flies, and blame no one but the system alone.

Job opportunities for K to12 senior high school and college graduates are a giant brick wall of unreached expectations and false hope. It is the reality that the country is currently facing. At the recent Philippine Business Conference, Education Secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte addressed the job opportunity for K to12 graduates. She said they are now working on making senior high school graduates skill-ready for job-opportunity in the corporate world. Do SHS students need to finish college to get a job, or the corporate world must lower their qualifications and requirements?

To produce graduates with equipped skills, values, and competencies that will enable them to accelerate their contribution to national development is one of the objectives of the

In the vast network of options available today, people are not limited to the different fields and expertise, especially in terms of looking for a job. However, there is a process. Everyone steps up in their chosen career after finishing the educational phase, particularly as fresh graduates. For an adult proverb, “life begins at forty,” but in the academe, “reality starts after graduation.” To put it into words, it is the feeling of coming out of your cocoon only to face the reality of the lackingness after preparing for so long.

K to 12 program. With this, students will be able to obtain qualifications to enter the job opportunity world with their preferred career path; it can be the start of gaining experience in job performance. However, the majority of job companies still show barriers when it comes to their qualifications of employees. Job hirings are not ready to hire K to 12 graduates saying that senior high school graduates, for instance, have poor readiness and experience with the job. Compared to other countries that fully adopted and developed the curriculum and hired K to 12 graduates for business jobs that require the minimum qualifications for senior high school graduates, it seems that the business sector of the Philippines is attached to the “diploma mentality” in terms of hir- ing employees.

Diploma mentality is a decade of cultural perception of Filipino families seeing college diplomas as proof of a student graduate’s capability and skills to enter the job hiring. The credibility of the four-year study became the main requirement for job hiring that eliminates the objectives of K to12 schooling and its vocational training from schools. Cultural perception affects the employment opportunities of K to12 graduates due to the lack of qualifications.

One of the steps that the Department of Education should prioritize is to enhance the education system of K to 12 programs that connect education to work and encourage business sectors for the reliability and development of the education program, regardless of whether s/ he is a senior high school or college graduate. It is an assurance that employment opportunities are not based on their years of school credibility. The current objectives of the K to12 program do not cover past graduates due to restrictions on the job qualifications of most job hiring.

Opportunities for the job-hiring world are a significant part of the economy with the increase in the employment rate for hiring K-12 graduates. This important factor should be considered, as this will benefit current issues that the country is facing, especially in higher education - to pursue college or to get a job after senior high school.