VICE President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio on Wednesday called on the business sector to consider hiring senior high school graduates.

She gave assurances that the Department of Education is taking steps to produce quality senior high school graduates with skills and ready for employment.

Duterte-Carpio said there is a disparity in the hiring preference of the labor sector which hugely requires high educational attainment.

The Vice President was the keynote speaker of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 48th Business Conference at the Manila Hotel.

“This is a comment from the CHED (Commission on Higher Education) that there is a diploma mentality in our country. Kailangan bang graduate ng four years college ang mga ine-employ ng ating mga industries?” Duterte-Carpio asked.

“The Department of Education is already working on how to make our Grades 11 and 12 ready for work and are skilled-ready when they graduate from the Kindergarten to Grade 12 program because the only mandatory education that is required is basic education — and that is kindergarten to grade 12,” Duterte-Carpio said.

“So, we hope that when we are finished with our task of making sure that our graduates, our grade 12 graduates, are ready. We hope to see the support of your sector in making sure that our grade 12 graduates are hired and employed by the industries that you participate in,” she added.

Duterte-Carpio also cited the business sector’s integral role in revitalizing the country’s economy post-pandemic.

The private sector, she said, is not only a partner in ensuring a healthy economic dynamism, but also a counterpart of DepEd in developing learning resources for the benefit of the schoolchildren, teaching force, and the academic instructions.

“These days, I am happy to share that the private sector has once again come to our aid,” she said.

“These are in the form of classroom building construction, teacher training, school grants, student competitions and awards including robotics and ICT talent competitions, nutrition education, school supplies distribution, reading materials, school preparedness advocacy, security, and mental health resources,” she added.