THE programs of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority with the highest enrollment do not align with the most in-demand jobs until 2025, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said.

The top five programs are agriculture, forestry and fishery, tourism, programs with no training regulations, automotive and land transportation (9.6%), and social community development and other services.

Based on the Jobs and Labor Market Forecast of the Department of Labor and Employment-Bureau of Local Employment and the TESDA Skills Need Anticipation Survey, the sectors that will drive employment until 2025 are information technology, business process management, construction, logistics, agriculture and health.

“None of the top five most popular courses offered by TESDA are aligned with industries that will grow in the next three to five years. Again, we see a lot of jobs-skills mismatch even at the tech-voc level and this is one aspect that we’re also addressing at the Second Congressional Commission on Education,” said Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education and EDCOM II co-chairperson.

“It’s deeply concerning that we provide scholarship programs to our graduates who don’t end up in the fastest growing industries of our country,” he added.

The senator’s office also analyzed data from the June 2021 Labor Force Survey and found out that among senior high school graduates who took the technical-vocational livelihood track, 50.6% are employed in elementary occupations. Gatchalian said this is a departure from the promise of the senior high school program to produce employable graduates.

One of Gatchalian’s proposals to boost the work readiness of senior high school graduates is the Batang Magaling Act or Senate Bill 2367.

The measure seeks to ensure that senior high school graduates are well-prepared for their chosen paths whether it’s higher education, middle-skills development, employment, or entrepreneurship.