President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Tuesday instructed the Department of Information and Communications Technology to offer scholarships to students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics track program.

The Office of the Press Secretary said the President wants the government to offer a scholarship program for STEM courses to address the lack of talent for information and communication technology businesses.

During a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Marcos said a scholarship program should be set up to encourage more students to pursue STEM courses.

The OPS said the President directed Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy to coordinate with industry players to determine their specific needs and address jobs mismatch.

For the Chief Executive, determining the needs of the industry players would enable the government and the industry to make necessary adjustments.

Citing the industry's observations, Uy said during the meeting that many IT graduates do not have the right tools and training required by the ICT industry.

"President Marcos has since expressed commitment to fixing the gap in research and development in STEM, saying the Philippines has a lot to catch up in the STEM fields," Office of the Press Secretary officer-in-charge and undersecretary Cheloy Garafil said.

"Experts said the Philippines needs to invest in addressing these issues to have a strong STEM community to make the country competitive. They say investing in STEM can boost the country economically, politically, and educationally," she added.