Villanueva bill seeks to give employers training standards

Senator Joel Villanueva. NESTOR CORRALES/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

To address the job-skills mismatch in the country, neophyte Senator Joel Villanueva has filed a measure aimed at providing employers specific training standards and qualifications that are aligned with industry standards.

Villanueva said Senate Bill No. 211 or “The Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF) Act of 2016” seeks to ensure that training and educational institutions adhere to the standards and qualifications set by the Philippine Qualifications Framework-National Coordinating Council (PQF-NCC) which will be chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Education.

“With the PQF, students can gain a clearer picture of the competencies they need for their job interests while employers are able to easily identify the basic work-skills their employees must possess,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Hence, the PQF can significantly reduce job-skills mismatch in the Philippines. It can also boost the international confidence among Filipino workers by making them more competitive and employable,” he said.

Villanueva said he expects the PQF to follow the “arduous” steps K to 12 system has undertaken before it was finally implemented nationwide.

“While the K to 12 system has transformed the country’s basic education curriculum, the PQF will harmonize and weave together basic education, technical-vocational education and training (TVET), and higher education into a unified and quality-assured system,” the senator said.

The proposed legislation, he said, would allow the crafting of a policy called National Qualification Frameworks (NQFs). He said this has been a major international trend in reforming national education and training systems since the late 1990s according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).

“The passage of a Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF) Law is earnestly sought to ensure that the qualifications needed to meet the country’s economic and social needs are of good quality, provide flexibility and progression for learners, and enjoy international recognition,” Villanueva said.

The senator pointed out that in 2012, former President Benigno Simeon Aquino III issued Executive Order No. 83, establishing the PQF to harmonize basic education, technical-vocational education and training (TVET) and tertiary education into a nationwide schedule of skills and competencies. RAM

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