SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday urged the government to hire K to 12 graduates to set an example for other companies in order to implement the promise of the Enhanced Basic Education System.

Gatchalian particularly called on the Civil Service Commission to consider providing positions for K to 12 graduates.

“If you look at the government requirements, we don’t have a position for K to 12 graduates now even us government. So the Civil Service Commission should look at that angle because we mandated our constituents to finish K-12. But government will not hire Kto 12. So there’s big disconnect,” he said.

“Government should lead by example to remedy that. And then second, we cannot force businesses also to hire K-12 graduates if they feel they are inadequate,” the senator said.

He added the government must make sure that K to 12 graduates are trained properly.

“In the two years of senior high school there’s TechVoc. But the TechVoc is not in line with industry needs, the demand. And also the training is also inadequate. So we need to fix that,” Gatchalian said.

The lawmaker stressed the need to revisit the Senior High School curriculum to ensure that students are ready to be employed or to move to college.

“We look at that and we look at the techvoc track. We look at the academic track, we strengthen it. We include also industry to make sure that industry has a say in what skills they are giving or training our senior high school so. I mean many things, but let’s focus also on the senior high school because that’s the two years that we added,” he said.