PSS refines vocational program

Citing the need to address the growing labor market, the Public School System yesterday revised its Vocational Education Clustered Program to redefine the needs of the Commonwealth labor force.

Late last year, Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio signed into law House Bill 12-285 which extends the privilege of nonresident workers with special skills and qualifications to occupy hard-to-fill vacant positions within the CNMI government.

The law aims to alleviate the critical situation currently facing the Commonwealth Health Center as well as other departments and agencies which rely on nonresident workers for certain hard-to-fill positions.

The governor also urged government agencies and departments to train and aggressively recruit resident workers to fill the needed positions.

Because of this, the PSS together with the Pacific Resource Learning Center and Voc-Ed teachers from Rota, Tinian and Saipan revisited the program in hopes to collaboratively work with different industries to address the problem.

PREL Service Center officer Jean Olopai facilitated the training-workshop where more than 40 participants were asked to set their visions and to craft the statement for the revision of the Voc-Ed program.

Acting Associate Commissioner for Secondary Education Rita A. Sablan explained that yesterday’s Voc-Ed seminar will give them sufficient time to look at the existing clustered programs being offered at the Marianas High School.

Ms. Sablan said PSS is trying to discover what is marketable right now and what are the needs of the community, adding that this way the school system will be able to give students several choices on what career path they should pursue in the future.

So far, there are at least six career paths which PSS should carefully review and study — Tourism and Related Industries, Business and Management, Health and Medical Services, Arts and Communication, Social and Personnel Services, and Engineering, Science and Technology.

At present, PSS offers Automotive Mechanics Technology and Electronics and Communications Technology. Under the Clustered Program of the Applied Technology, Occupational and Management Programs of the Voc-Ed, students will be provided an Initial Mastery Certificate once they completed the course.

However, the PSS believes that apart from the existing programs, the education system must carefully study what kind of career paths must be developed in order to fill certain positions in various government agencies.