Take STEP to work abroad

• Source:http://palawan-news.com/take-step-to-work-abroad/
• Sunday, December 6, 2015

By Joy Tabuada

Thousands of Palaweños are now on their way out from poverty as they take the chance to be part of the pool of skilled manpower that has high probability of getting a job abroad or at least within the member countries of the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East Asian Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

According to Kitten Gomez, head of STEP and Program Manager of Aborlan Technical School of the provincial government, they are geared up to provide employment to Palaweños through various skills trainings that will equip the participants the necessary expertise needed by various countries.

The Skills Training and Employment Program for Palaweños is an initiative of the Provincial Government of Palawan with the directive of Governor Jose Chavez-Alvarez that’s been going around the province together with the staff of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. The group provides skills training in different municipalities.

“Pumupunta sa munisipyo at dinadala ang mga trainers. Ang local government naman ang nagbibigay ng venue,” Gomez said.

The training usually lasts for five days and after which there will be an assessment which will qualify the participants to receive a National Certificate 2 (NC2).

The province has recorded a relatively high unemployment rate at 13.7 percent based on the 2005 Community Based Monitoring System data.This represents a total of 31,646 members of the labor force who did not have work during the reference period.

Gomez said that almost 3,000 individuals are graduates of STEP. This means that they are ready for employment abroad. The provincial government is now working on the possible partnership with Malaysia for the employment of STEP graduates.

This small milestone she said is geared towards addressing the unemployment rate of the province.

Recently, another STEP activity was conducted in Balabac. The town has 39.9 percent unemployment rate based on CBMS data in 2005.

Technical Schools

The Provincial Board, Tuesday, has drafted a resolution that was being referred to the Committee on Education requesting the governor to put-up technical vocational schools on Calamianes Group of Islands and Magsaysay-Cuyo recognizing the importance of the school to the people of these towns.

In June 29, 2015 the provincial government has put up the Technical School in Aborlan town with the support of Asian Business Cabletow Cooperative Academy, Inc. (ABBCA) and TESDA.

As of November 20, more than 2,000 students from different parts of the country have flocked to enrol hoping that after graduation they could get a good job.

Gomez however, clarified that the graduates of the school have to undergo the STEP to be able to get employment abroad.