Courses offered under the Technical-Vocational-Livelihood (TVL) in the Senior High School (SHS) Program are now limited to those that can be done at home, the Department of Education (DepEd) said.

Undersecretary Tonisito Umali said that one of the challenges that DepEd faces this school year - due to the COVID-19 health situation - is the implementation of SHS, especially for students enrolled in TVL courses.

“The challenge now is how to implement this program,” Umali said during the launch of the “First Future 2.0” project early this week. “This is still ongoing the way we’re doing this is that the type of courses being offered to our students are now limited to what may still be done at home or in the community,” he added.

Citing initial reports from regions, Umali revealed that the courses being offered under the TVL strand in SHS are “now limited to home-based or those that can be done at home” such as like cooking, handicraft, bread and pastry, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and needle-craft, among others.

“Maraming kurso dati sa larangan pagkukumpuni ng sasakyan na hindi na maari kasi kailangan ng malalaking makina at equipment para mangyari ito, ganun din sa welding (The courses on automotive that were offered before are not possible now because big machines and equipment are needed for this, same with welding,” he explained. “Ito ay maganda sana at talagang in-demand natin sa industry pero wala it ngayon (These are very courses and are really in demand in the industry but we don’t have these now,” he added.

Umali also noted that assessments have also been suspended. Prior to this pandemic, out of the 291,000 Grade 12 SHS students that were assessed, “more or less, 267, 561 passed the assessment for a certification rate of more or less 91. 8 %.”

Despite this, Umali said that DepEd tries to find ways to continue the implementation of the program. “The way we’re doing it right now, with respect to the course offerings in our tech-voc strand, we allow our schools division superintendents to make recommendations based on their experiences, based on the capability of the schools under their jurisdiction,” he explained.

Currently, he noted that the decision to approve schools to offer the tech-voc courses or temporarily suspend the course offerings is at the regional level.

Recognizing the various challenges in the education to employment transition, Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) and Citi Foundation launched the “First Future 2.0.”

It is a new learning platform that hopes to reach as many as 4,000 Filipino youth and to train them in the cultivation of leadership skills and the adoption of a growth mindset. The project is a continuation of its efforts to support senior high school graduates and youth without college degrees to enter and progress in the workplace.