STI Offers It?enhanced Courses to Spawn 'Global Pinoy Worker'

Latest figures from the National Statistics Office show that the number of unemployed persons in January 2004 was recorded at 3.9 million. This resulted to the unemployment rate of 11.0 percent. Last year's estimate was 3.6 million or 10.6 percent. Likewise, the Department of Labor and Employment reveal about 860,000 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are deployed each year and their numbers continue to rise.

 

The disheartening thought of eventually becoming jobless in the Philippines has convinced more and more graduates to now try their luck for the proverbial 'greener pastures'abroad. Loosely translated, it means better work opportunities and higher compensation packages that could not be easily found in the country.

 

This sorry plight of the Filipino school graduates has been monitored by a select group of educators and industry experts from STI. So starting this school year, STI adopts the E2E (short for enrollment to employment) system that will help provide a unique human resource value chain proposition for STI students. E2E ensures that STI students get the right educational tools and training needed for them to be able to land the high-paying jobs they pine for later on in their careers. With the unemployment and underemployment rates expected to continue to rise, STI has also done a major fine-tuning of its educational drive – enter into major industry alliances and help generate more jobs for its graduates!

 

"The continuing exodus of Filipino workers abroad is not something new," offers Mr. Peter Fernandez, senior vice president for the Education Management Division of STI. "Their monetary remittances has been a major sustaining lifeblood of our economy," he says. "That's precisely the reason why we felt that it is high time we introduce a new system that could somehow ensure the steady supply of IT-enabled Filipino workers here and abroad- who have both good computing and communications skills. We are able to do this by setting up an IT-enhanced learning environment where regular courses in English and Math are combined with the latest offerings in computer technology," he explains.

 

"This only means that starting this school year, STI will not only in the business of education but also in the business of satisfying needs and wants -- of our students and their families!" he adds with a smile.

 

Fernandez believes that in the next 10 or 20 years, IT will become more prevalent. "The computer has now become an appliance rather than a special tool. If you are not IT-skilled, you will not be able to cope up with the demands of the industry," he stated. "Hence, it is imperative that teaching IT as part of the educational system should start in the primary education. In STI, students are trained to be IT-enabled – from preparatory up to college education. We make sure that the learning paradigm will focus on learning with technology and not just learning about technology," stressed Fernandez.

 

As senior executive of the company, Fernandez's role has been to oversee the entire operations of STI's more than 100 network of schools nationwide in terms of management, marketing, network planning and sales.

 

"Before we get so concerned about losing the best and brightest Filipino professionals to our neighboring countries in Asia, and the Middle East, as well as in Europe and America," says Fernandez, "let us first examine the cause of the problem: Are we generating enough local job opportunities? Is the salary enough to provide a decent life for them and their families?" He hastens to add, "So how about ensuring a steady supply of skilled and battle-ready Global Pinoy workers for the next wave of job employment opportunities abroad?"

 

Despite this, Fernandez remains optimistic that the Philippines can still generate more jobs with the advent of the business process outsourcing. "By providing IT-enhanced learning, we will be able to extend world-class ICT-enabled services to clients worldwide."

 

"At the end of the day," he opines, "what can be wrong with RP becoming a global human resource provider (of global Pinoy workers) who have been trained well at STI?" he says, confident of the impending success of the company's latest breakthrough system that would provide for a steady flow of IT-enhanced professionals and employment opportunities for STI graduates.