Vice President Sara Duterte has called on the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry to help the Department of Education review the senior high school curriculum, which she concurrently heads.

The PCCI and other business organizations have long been complaining that graduates of the K to 12 program are not job-ready.

In response, Duterte launched a new curriculum for kindergarten to Grade 10 (K-to-10) in September 2023. However, she has maintained that K-12 will not be abolished, as it is mandated by law.

In a speech at the 49th Philippine Business Conference and Expo on Wednesday, Duterte said the DepEd is "in the middle of reviewing and revising the senior high school curriculum."

She invited the PCCI and its members to participate in the review and provide "valuable insights on skills matching to produce employability among our graduates."

"We need all the help that we can get from the experts," she said.

Duterte, concurrently DepEd Secretary, also sought the private sector's help in supporting DepEd's Digital Education 2028 campaign, which aims to aggressively provide WiFi access nationwide.

She said that DepEd is in talks with telecom giants PLDT, Starlink, Converge and Globe to make the campaign a reality.

Meanwhile, the Department of Science and Technology encourages more students to take STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) strand courses.

DoST Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. said only 23.24 percent of 2.8 million senior high school students are enrolled in the STEM strand for the school year 2022-2023.

Solidum said the DoST is concerned about the decline in interest in STEM courses, as this could lead to "technological unemployment and widening income inequality."

To reverse this trend, the DoST holds the first National Youth Science, Technology and Innovation Festival. The festival is aimed at promoting STEM education and careers to young people.

Solidum said the DoST believes the festival will help students "appreciate the vast applications of science and the endless possibilities in different STEM careers."

He said the festival is "a conscious effort of the DoST to push STEM education and careers to a higher plane to impress upon the consciousness of our students, our out-of-school youth, and even their parents and guardians that for our country to achieve development, we must harness the potential of science, technology, and innovation."

With Neil Alcober