‘LABOR MARKET MODULES’: Provincial gov’t to roll out career, voter’s education modules

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

The provincial government of Iloilo is gearing up to launch its own modules for career guidance and voter’s education in a bid to overhaul the education system of the province.

“We already had a trial session with our career guidance and counseling instructional module and the voter’s education manual. We want to launch within the quarter,” Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. said in a press conference on Thursday.

Defensor made this announcement following the inaugural consultative meeting for the modules with the Department of Education and other collaboration partners on Wednesday.

The governor noted that the modules are currently undergoing the editing phase, and another consultative meeting has been scheduled for finalization later in February.

The workshop with partner agencies for module development commenced in May of last year.

“We will launch it in the next two or three months as this is one of our priorities in the “Bulig Eskwela Sang Probinsya” (BES Probins) Program,” Defensor added.

The BES Probins Program is the provincial government’s program for an effective, relevant and transformative educational system in the province.

One of the offshoots of the program is the creation of career guidance and counseling instructional modules and voter’s education manuals.

The career guidance module adopts a localized approach to Republic Act 11206, or the Career Guidance and Counseling Act, authored by Defensor during his tenure as a congressman in the third district.

Defensor emphasized that the program aims to address a disconnect or gap in the educational system to produce human resources aligned with the needs of the government and the economy.

Salient features of the module include a guide for secondary students to make intelligent decisions in choosing a career based on the National Career Assessment Examination; educate them on the National and Local Development Plans so they will know the direction of the government and the economy; and teach them the country’s labor requirement.

Meanwhile, the voter’s education manual aims to assist young people in becoming informed participants in the electoral process.