The Department of Science and Technology (DoST) disclosed Sunday (Oct. 25) that there are more than 19,000 slots to be filled under its Coursera for Workforce Recovery Learning Program.
DoST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña said out of 75,000 slots provided by online course provider Coursera, around 55, 942 students have enrolled in 736, 569 courses, as of October 23.
“We are urging the public, particularly those in the government to enroll before the deadline for course enrollment lapses on October 31.They just follow the procedures,” he said in a text message.
Citing the agency’s eight-page report on the status of the online learning program, he said so far, 35, 629 courses have been completed with 419, 725 hours spent.
De la Peña noted that the National Capital Region, Region IV-A, and Caraga are the top three regions with the most number of grantees.
Quoting the report, he said the grantees come from all over the region from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi.
The report showed that females accounted for 59.4 percent of the 45, 477 learners who indicated their gender, while males represented only 39.9 percent.
In terms of employment status, 54.2 percent of the 29,073 enrolees who were surveyed are employed, 20.9 percent are students, and 17.5 percent are unemployed.
The DosT data also showed that 54.4 percent of the 19, 262 learners who disclosed their organizations are from the private sector, 31.8 percent from the government , and 11.5 percent are self-employed.
According to the report, the number 1 in course completion is COVID-19 Contact Tracing from John Hopkins University. While, the top three course enrollments are Excel Skills for Business: Essentials; Write Professional Emails in English; and Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python).
The distribution of course enrollments is as follows: Business, 140,662; Language Learning, 58,885; Computer Science, 53,761; Data Science, 51,133; Health, 42, 325; Physical Science and Engineering, 23, 584; Personal Development, 22, 507; Arts and Humanities, 21, 332; Social Sciences, 19, 048; Math and Logic, 10, 844.
For Science and related courses, 211, 167 learners have enrolled. These include 53, 761 who enrolled in Computer Science; 51, 133 in Data Science; Health, 42, 325; Information Technology , 29, 520; Physical Science and Engineering, 23, 584; and Math and Logic, 10,844.
The DoST noted that the Coursera is one of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platforms in the world wherein you can enrol courses from leading universities abroad like Stanford University, University of Michigan, Imperial College of London, etc.
It said the students are given full access to more than 3,800 courses in different fields offered in Coursera.
It was DOST Caraga that applied for the Coursera for Government Workforce Recovery Program and was approved in April 27, 2020. Coursera gave DOST-Caraga a total of 75,000 slots to "help the government upskill or reskill workers who are actively seeking jobs, under-employed. and those who will lose their job due to the pandemic."
The DOST said all Filipinos in the Philippines, including overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) aged 18 years old and above, can avail themselves of the scholarship grant.
The course enrollment is only until October 31, 2020. The enrolees can finish their guided projects, courses, and specialization they have enrolled until Dec.31, 2020.