President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday (Manila time) vowed to improve the Philippines’ education system by providing learners with the skill training they need.

This, as Marcos acknowledged the need to focus more on honing students’ skills to make them ready as they enter the workforce.

During the New York Stock Exchange Economic Forum, Marcos said requiring technical proficiency and good training in schools would encourage “more sophisticated” foreign investors to put up their business in the Philippines.

“We will still continue to try and improve the education system in terms of the technical side, the technical side of our workforce’s training,” Marcos said.

Marcos issued the statement, as he recognized that Filipino workers are the country’s “best asset,” especially in sustaining economic transformation and growth.

He said his administration is focused on continuing to “invest in our young people” by giving them the proper training.

“We must continue to make them competitive anywhere in the world but most hopefully in the Philippines with our partners and with our allies,” Marcos said.

“And that will galvanize our young people to continue to work in that direction. That I think is something that will come naturally if we are able to do all of the things that we are hoping to do to transform the economy, to adjust now,” he added.

Marcos has directed the Department of Education (DepEd) to equip learners with proper skills that would turn them into “productive members of the society,” Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said in a video uploaded on her official Facebook page.

Cruz-Angeles said Marcos would exhaust all efforts to improve the quality of basic education in the country.

“Hindi tayo makakaunlad kung hindi skilled ang ating workers, kung walang talino or walang kakayahan. So, sa basic education pa lang, pinangako ng Presidente na hindi niya titipirin ang ating learners (We will not grow, if our workers are not skilled, not smart and incompetent. So, in terms of basic education, the President promised that he would not neglect our learners),” she said.

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual earlier pushed for a shorter number of years for a college degree, citing that some countries with a successful implementation of the K to 12 curriculum award a college degree in just two or three years.

The current K-12 program in the Philippines, which was implemented in 2012, covers kindergarten, six years of primary education, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school to prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.

Pascual said courses being offered in college should be job-oriented, stressing that graduates need to have the “specific qualities required by jobs.” (PNA)