Capiz hosts 2007 student gov'ts regional leadership training
Roxas City -- This province through the Schools Division of Capiz hosted this year's recent Regional Leadership Training of Supreme Student Government (SSG) Officers and Advisers at the Capiz National High School here.
The school, one of the country's leading state high schools with a science and technology program, is headed by Mrs. Narcisa Artates.
Hundreds of secondary student government officers and their advisers from various provinces in Western Visayas including Aklan, Antique, Guimaras, Iloilo, Negros Occidental and host Capiz gathered here for the three-day leadership training that was hosted by Capiz for the first time.
The training was coordinated by the Capiz Schools division through its Social Studies department headed by Dr. Salvador Ochavo, Jr. with the support of the Department of Education (DepEd) Regional Office through its Regional Supervisor for Social Studies Mrs. Novelyn Vilchez.
Ochavo said the student government activity is part of the student and co-curricular affairs program of the Department designed to develop the political maturity as well as develop the leadership potentials of secondary students. He added that the school division here will expand the program starting July to involve elementary pupils.
Part of the training was the search for "Mr. & Ms. Regional SSG" held June 2 at the CNHS mini-gym which was won by student leader candidates from the host school.
The province earned the right to host the event by virtue of the election of CNHS senior student Dyna Mae Azarcon as president of the regional SSG organization.
Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Angel Gilvas reported that the opening of this year's classes went on smoothly despite some minor hitches.
The local schools division here is one of scores of DepEd units in the country that are in the forefront of spearheading the government program to provide quality education to Filipinos.
Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus has bared that the DepEd is making steps to improve the quality of education in the country and has taken the "bold move" by pushing for technical-vocational education in public high schools.
He said that despite the growing demand for skilled workers in various technical and vocational (tech-voc) fields, many Filipinos remain unemployed. "Regrettably, a lot of these young unemployed Filipinos have college degrees -- they have college diplomas in areas that have no employment value," Lapus pointed out.
He said the DepEd has started linking up with its counterparts in Asian countries like Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia to "explore opportunities for sharing information and best practices on tech-voc education," Lapus said.
Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri has called on the government to support measures that will address the problem on labor-skill mismatch, saying this was one of the reasons why the effects of high economic growth have not trickled down to the masses.
Neri said there were a lot of available jobs in the financial services and business process outsourcing industries. There were also many companies requiring people who have skills in information technology.
The Technical Education and Skills Education Authority (TESDA) headed by Director General Augusto "Boboy" Syjuco has initiated and operationalized programs to address the problem of labor-skill mismatch.
President Arroyo has declared that no Filipino of school age should be left out in her new resolve to make education accessible to all as one of the "blessings" of a resurgent economy brought about by the positive results of tough economic reforms.
(PIA)