Education and training will play a very critical role in the country’s technological transformation, this according to speakers and panelist during the 9th National Education Forum held at Hotel Jen last 29 August 2019.
PHILEXPORT President, Mr. Ortiz-Luis, emphasized the importance of “government officials, educational institutions, business leaders, and policymakers in pushing forward advocacies on education such as 4.0 workforce readiness, strengthening government-academe-industry linkages as well as best practices on multi-skilling workforce and plotting the ways forward in future-proofing work in the Philippines.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Eduardo Ong, PCCI Chairman for Education, stressed that “the government, specifically those in the education and training sectors, shall continuously push for an enabling education environment that propels industrial revolution and economic resiliency.” It is the responsibility of the government to make sure that the value of partnerships and collaborations shall be undertaken at all levels, in all sectors, with emphasis to fulfill the mission of uplifting the quality of education in the country”.
Moreover, Dr. Ong said “Örganizations like the Philippine Chamber of 
Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the Export Development Council (EDC), PHILEXPORT and the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) are all working on policies towards identifying the breadth of jobs that are likely to be threatened by this technological advancement. Noting for example is the rapid progress in Artificial Intelligence (AI), which indicates a much broader range of jobs than previously thought could be carried out by machines. Therefore, the Commission on Higher Education and other government agencies shall make sure that essential policies shall bring up symmetrical balance so that we will not be worried about automation affecting employment in the country.”
It was also highlighted that as one country, we should believe in the reality that jobs of the future will be the ones that machines can’t do and it is fair to say that anything that can be measured or is based on rules will be automated- an idea which means, we can automate the work and humanize the job. This also means that technology cannot always do the work alone- most of the time, it still needs human intervention.
Hence, it is beyond doubt that education is at the heart of preparing our future and present generations to thrive in a technologically advanced world. As a result, it is vital that we have an educational institution that develops human potential rather than pits it against machines; an education system designed for an industrial economy that is now being automated requires transformation; and from a system based on facts and procedures to one that actively applies that knowledge to collaborative problem-solving.
The said forum was organized by the PCCI Education Committee in collaboration with the EDC-Networking Committee on HRD and supported by PHILEXPORT.- GTM