Gov’t urged to adopt German dual vocational system to fight unemployment

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay has called on the government to look into Germany’s dual vocational system and see how it could help reduce unemployment in the Philippines.

The German dual vocational system combines apprenticeships in a company and vocational education at a vocational school. The in-firm training lasts from two to three and a half years and the trainees receive a certificate at the end of the training.

“Germany has a very strong dual vocational system and this is one of the reasons why unemployment among the German youth is low by international standards,” Binay said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We hope we can apply a similar scheme in the Philippines especially with the implementation of the K-12 program and we look forward to a possible cooperation with Germany on this in the future,” he said.

During his working visit in Germany, Binay said he met with German Labor Minister Dr. Ursula von der Leyen to discuss the matter.

“They are offering us how we can adopt and use this especially now we have K-12 program…,” he pointed out.

Leyen, Binay said, had the chance to talk about dual education with the CEO of Ayala Corp when she went to Manila last March. He said she also expressed her interest to return to the Philippines to speak more about the dual vocational system of training.

The Vice President said he and Leyen are also looking into the possibility of forging a bilateral agreement on the equivalency of academic degrees between the Philippines and Germany.

He said the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) recommended the initiative, citing a similar agreement CHED signed with the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports last year.

“We believe such an agreement would lead towards an eventual mutual recognition of degrees for professional purposes,” said Binay.

“This would also help in our efforts to facilitate the deployment of Philippine Health Care professionals under the recently signed agreement between the Philippines and Germany,” he added.

Binay earlier met with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle to discuss the planned deployment of Filipino nurses to the European country. He said an initial batch of 50 nurses will be deployed in 2013 and the next batch of 500 deployed by 2014.

Currently, there is an existing tie-up between the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and the International University Cooperation Education (iUCE) wherein Filipino students enrolled under the program have the option to continue their studies in Germany.

Students who will take part in the program should obtain a fully state-recognized Philippine bachelor degree from UST. If they opt to continue in iUCE, Binay said, they can graduate with a recognized degree by the German Ministry of Education.