Incoming Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Senator Sonny Angara said that he will be talking to employers and industry groups in a bid to improve the K-to-12 curriculum as well as the employability of Senior High School (SHS) graduates.

"Kakausapin din natin ang mga employers and industry groups. Para klaro din na huwag naman lahat ng trabaho lalagyan nila ng kailangan ng college graduate. Kasi yun ang pangako natin nung pinasa natin yung K-12 (We will talk to employers and industry groups. So it would be clear that not all jobs require a college graduate. Because that was our promise when we passed the K-12)," he said in a radio interview over DWIZ on Saturday, July 6.

"Pero pangako natin oo nga, dalawang taon na dagdag pero yung pag-asa ng magkakaroon ng trabaho e hindi natin kinumpleto yung pangako na yun. So dapat gawin natin ang lahat para matupad yung pangako na employable yung ating senior high school graduate (We promised that yes there will be two years added but the hope that they will be employed was not fulfilled. So we must do everything to fulfill that promise that senior high school graduates will be employable)," he added.

Asked if he can be able to convince employers to do this, he said: "I think so. I think it just needs concerted action and organization. Tapos yung (Then the) government agencies should also follow, should also stay accountable. Yung mga mabababa na salary grade, yung mga (Those with low salary grade, those that are) clerical in nature, I don't think you need college graduates there."

On Friday, July 5, President Marcos said the government needs "to do something else" to ensure better employability for graduates, citing that the K-to-12 curriculum failed to provide good results in terms of employment.

Marcos recognized that among the objectives in pushing for the K-to-12 curriculum was to improve employability among graduates. But he claimed that there has been no improvement in the results.

Angara said that while there was a technical-vocation strand, there was neither accreditation nor assessment. With this set-up, the employer or industry that was supposed to hire the SHS graduate had no idea what he or she took up. 

"Kasi parang senior high school nga pero walang accreditation as in terms of skills in technical and vocational education. So gagawin natin, parang sa TESDA, may certification tayo (What happens is that while the student finishes senior high school he or she does not have an accreditation in terms of technical and vocational education. What we will do is like with TESDA, we will hand out a certification)," he said.

Angara said that this certification will cover the skills possessed by the SHS graduates. This would tell industries, corporations, and agencies that these are the possessed skills by these individuals so they can be hired.

"You can be confident that they can perform these tasks at these jobs. So yun ang nagkulang over the last decade (That's what we lacked over the last decade)," he added.

Aside from assessment and accreditation, Angara will also look into the lack of facilities to adequately train the students since there's a "logjam" in different training aspects.
 
Angara said that he has a scheduled transition with Vice President Sara Duterte on July 18 at the Department of Education (DepEd) Central Office in Pasig. But before that, he would already coordinate with some DepEd officials so he could be updated on the pending matters once he takes over the position.

While there's no definite date yet, the earliest that he can assume the post, according to Angara, is on July 19 which is the effectivity of the Vice President's resignation.