BOE moves to prep students to join workforce

The State Board of Education is now the laying the groundwork for the creation of a new Public School System curriculum that would require high school students to train with the private and public sectors in efforts to equip students with adequate jobs skills that will grant them a head start in choosing a career path.

BOE Chair Frances H. Diaz said the move is seen to eventually decrease the Northern Marianas’ reliance on outside labor force.

“These kids have to start learning that they have to begin at the high school level,” said the Tinian BOE member in an interview last week.

The island of Tinian, which relies heavily on the hotel industry to provide individuals with job opportunities, stands to gain from the fresh initiative, according to Ms. Diaz.

“Majority of the workers on Tinian’s hotel industry are hired from outside. But we can also train our kids to be part of this industry. Some of our high school graduates who opt not to go to college could start here. This could be a first step toward their success,” said the board member.

A draft of the workforce initiative proposal specifically targets students at the Marianas High School to undergo the job training program.

But board members are aiming to expand the initiative to include not only MHS but each senior high school in the islands of Rota and Tinian where the focus of the training could depend on the number one industry of the particular island.

Technology and Accounting are two of the four listed areas the board is proposing the students to begin training on.

BOE unveiled such plans after meeting with Department of Interior, Department of Education, Housing and Urban Development, and Department of Health, Human Services officials in San Francisco last month.

“We sat down with Mr. Danny Aranza and other delegates to work out the problems we had with securing jobs for our students and other issues. So we talked about what we would like to see and zeroed in on a plan of action,” said Ms. Diaz.

Other efforts at aimed at strengthening CNMI’s future workforce is also being initiated by the Workforce Investment Agency (formerly Job Training Partnership Act) which has sealed anew a memorandum of understanding with the Pacific Educational Foundation Inc./MTC-Hawaii Job Corps Center on a partnership program eyed to nurture responsible, employable, and productive local citizens.

WIA Executive Director Felix R. Nogis and Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has signed the agreement with Hawaii Job Corps officials in efforts to promote the HJCC mission which is to provide academic, vocational, and social development training to young men and women ages 16 to 24.

Mr. Nogis said collaborative efforts between the agencies would benefit local citizens especially as it targets participation of individuals from low-income status families.