The project goal is to increase the literacy rate of the youth in the areas identified by the Rotary Club of Balintawak.

 

  
Overview
 
More than half of the 1.3 Million Fourth Year High School Students who took the National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) in January are not prepared to enter college, the Department of Education revealed. 
 
Education officials said 700,000 students scored low on the General Scholastic Aptitude (GSA) category of the exam.  GSA measures the readiness of a student to enter the tertiary level.
 
Most of the students scored high on the technical-vocation and entrepreneurial categories.
 
The latest NCAE results also showed that only a small percentage of the examinees are qualified to fill executive and managerial positions. 
 
The NCAE results revealed that 22, 267 students who belong to families with annual income below –P-150,000.00, the current poverty threshold, are among the highest performers in the GSA.  Meanwhile 33,444 poor students also received very high scores in the technical-vocational category. 
 
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said the results showed a majority of high school students are not fit for college and should take the technical and vocational track.  He criticized young people for instead wanting to become “Dancers and Actors.” 
 
The test supports the Rotary Club’s theory that a lot of our students are better suited to take the technical-vocational track.  And it supports the shift in our policy government’s directions for education.
 
He said there were more that half a million blue collar jobs not being filled due to a shortage of skilled workers in the country while millions remain unemployed.
 
We have to address what we call as the Job Mismatch. Out of the 2.6 million unemployed Filipinos, around 1.1 million are college graduates.  But at the same time, we have 650,000 technical jobs available in the local market, and we cannot fill in the vacancies because our youth applicants lack the required skills.
 

The Rotary Club of Balintawak saw the need to further focus its resources on the development of the poor. The Club pledged its untiring commitment to the poor by catering to the needs of the less privileged Filipinos through various programs and services.
         
In line with this, the Rotary Club of Balintawak convened and agreed on designing a program to deliver quality and cost-effective technical-vocational training and provide both immediate and intermediate gainful employment opportunities to Out-of-School Youths (OSY’s). The program has two major components – the Skills Training Center and the Livelihood Center or Workshop.
 
The Rotary Club of Balintawak saw the need to modernize or the least, augment basic facilities necessary for the furtherance of the students’ knowledge
and innovativeness, through acquisition of equipment to be competitive with the growing computer age technology. 
  

The Skills Training Center will serve as a venue for the In-Center or theoretical training of the OSY participants. As its name implies, the e-Skills Training Center utilizes the e—Skills approach to Vocational-Educational system. The In-Center Training normally takes 3 ½ months, thus allowing the Program to accommodate at least three (3) batches of trainees per year.
         
The Livelihood Center or Workshop is located at IBP Road, Payatas A Quezon City, strategically within the public market area of the biggest urban poor community in Metro Manila. This part of the program ensures the actual or “hands-on” training of the OSY participants. This is commonly called the In-Shop Training. The Workshop also generates funds for the program. The age range of the targeted OSY’s are between ages 17 and 30, either married or single.
 
The program will conduct five courses namely:
1.     Basic Electronics Course,
2.     Building/Auto Electrician’s Course,
3.     Basic Computer Literacy Course,
4.     Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Technology and
5.     Wielding Technology. 
  
Specific Objectives 

Skills Training Center:
v To accommodate at least 200 pre-qualified OSY’s into the program
v To equipt OSY participants with new and up-to-date technical skills
v To generate a monthly total of at least Php 5,000.00 from training counterparts from OSY’s
v Conduct an intensive 2-week  Social Preparation Seminar consisting of the Life Skills and Values Formation workshops to every batch of trainees
v Conduct at least three (3) additional Life Skills sessions in the course of the In-Center training
v Visit prospective companies where to deploy the OSYs and present the Programs and Trainings conducted to them
v Sign at least three (3) MOA’s with companies and firms
v At least 50% of the graduates take the TESDA Trade Test
v At least 95% of Trade Test takers should pass
 
Livelihood Center / Workshop:
v To be able to generate monthly revenue of at least Php 30,000.00 from service fees and sale of parts and accessories in the Livelihood Center/Workshop. 
v To accommodate at least 20 on-the-job trainees per year in the workshop.
v To ensure at least Php 3,000.00 monthly income for each OSY employed in the workshop. 

 

 

The financial sustainability of the program revolves around the idea that the program has a major component that provides goods and services that local consumers need and will pay for. Its Livelihood Center or Workshop is tantamount to a Development Enterprise that offers electronics, electrical, wielding, refrigeration, air-conditioning and computer services and sells needed parts.

With a measly initial capital in terms of physical facilities and equipment materials and tools, the program is expected to generate a net average of at least Php 30,000.00 per month from the sales of parts and service charges. A ready market is already in the offing for the Philippines has thousands of vehicles that need to be repaired at a low cost, for every individual now avoids a big cut on their budget. 
         
Needless to mention the other income-generating activities that  the Center would eventually provide like home-service and repairs upon establishing a name in the industry. With a good reputation and honest-to-goodness manner of servicing to the people as taught by the Rotarians, the project is deemed sustainable for it will earmark a name of its own. 
  
  
Project Sustainability 

The families of the OSY’s shall undergo entrepreneurship training that will give them the capacity to engage in economic activities. This will pave the way for families to get loan assistance from the Cooperating Organization if they are assessed to be ready to start small family businesses, that will provide them with additional income and help them augment their income to cover the cost of education of their children. 
 
The Rotary Club of Balintawak and The Cooperating Organization conducts training and workshops on entrepreneurship and enterprise development with its program partners. Rotary and its Partners provides initial loan capital to viable business ventures. During the business plan implementation, Rotarians and their Partners offers consultancy services to existing enterprises to ensure their viability. 
 
Rotary intends to continuously promote the program and campaign for additional resources from other international sponsors to be able to pursue other activities for the OSY’s. These sponsors shall be encouraged to share in the educational expenses of the scholars or in providing volunteer services to certain project activities. They could likewise be tapped as information givers regarding the program.