In January of this year, the Philippines reaped a higher employment rate of almost 95 percent, compared with last year’s results of 93 percent. With the current administration’s focus on providing more jobs for Filipinos, opportunities with the country are not difficult to find. However, in today’s digital era, various industries have adapted technological innovations that now require a workforce with unparalleled skillset fit for the job. Education plays a vital role in bridging the job and skills mismatch for Filipino professionals to be at an advantage in a highly competitive playing field.
Addressing the demand, St. Mary’s College of Meycuayan in Bulacan (SMCM) boosted its K-12 education program with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)curriculum that aims to raise its educational level to International standards. To do this, the school has built one-of-a-kind STEM Laboratory and partnered with one of the country’s top ICT companies, Acer Philippines, to strengthen the future workforce’s basic education.
Integrated Basic Education Principal of SMCM, Mrs. Ana Michelle S. Ricalde said, “We are proud to share that together with our partner, Acer, we have opened newly-constructed facility for our students. SMCM is the 2nd school to have this one-of-a-kind STEM laboratory outside the United States.
Faculty and administrator of SMCM are also continuously working with Paxton/Patterson, a company that provides classroom technology systems in the United States, to advance its STEM program to become a Center for Science and Technology and train more students in the future. Aside from intensifying their STEM program, SMCM also joined the Acer Academy, an innovative program designed to help educators adapt better solutions in communicating and interacting with their students.
“With SMCM’s improved K-12 STEM program and our partnership with Acer, we hope to equip our students with the skills they can utilize as future professionals. We believe that their education can highly contribute in bringing them ahead of the curve in competitive settings here in the country, and even abroad,” said Ricalde.
Under the Acer Academy program, SMCM also has access to professional and career development programs for their school administrators that can add digital literacy to the fast-changing learning environment. Aside from this, partner schools can utilize the IT company’s products and services to integrate a digital classroom in their courses.
“At Acer, we believe in providing technology for everyone and there is no better investment than to equip the future of education. We are happy to be a part of SMCM’s milestone as they provide quality education for Filipinos that can help build their competencies and expertise,” said the Senior Manager for Commercial Sales, Carren Garcia.