Moving into the workforce from grade 12

Carmel A. Deloy, a former househelp, poses with her five-year-old daughter, Stephanie, as they proudly show off her certificates after graduating, with honors, at the Barrio Luz National High School. Carmel is among the first to finish grade 12 in Cebu City’s K-12 pilot schools.
CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO

WHILE parents and guardians were busy attending the “Moving Up” ceremonies of their children this week, 26-year-old Carmel Allosada Deloy was busy with hers.

And with her five-year-old daughter in attendance, Carmel walked up the stage of Barrio Luz National High School on Friday, to claim her hard earned diploma which came 10 years after she stopped schooling in 2006.

A consistent honor student of the Dumanjug National High School, Carmel quit school when she was on her second year in High School due to poverty.

She then worked as a household helper and from the little she earned, gave a portion to her grandparents in Dumanjug who helped raise her.
But Carmel never stopped dreaming of a better life someday.

Tesda

Her day came in 2014 when she learned about the Alternative Learning System (ALS) and aced the test which paved the way for her to enroll in a course called “Technical-Vocational on Food” a year later.

The course is part of the K to 12 program of the Barrio Luz National High School in Cebu City – one of two pilot schools which implemented the Department of Education’s K to 12 program a year ahead of the others.

“I needed to work hard for my daughter,” Carmel told Cebu Daily News yesterday as she readied to embark on a new chapter in her life.
“We may have experienced knock downs but what matters most is how many times we get up again,” she said in Cebuano.

With her newly-earned certificate from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), Carmel could now proudly find work in the food industry even without a college degree.

Finishing on top of her class, she was one of 24 graduates yesterday who finished the Tesda-accredited course.

Tesda accreditation

Under the program, the students focused on their academic subjects from Monday to Thursday. Fridays were devoted to practical exams during immersion programs in Tesda-accredited companies.

Carmel was able to complete 1,000 hours of training on food processing, bread and pastry production, and learned other fundamentals of cooking.
With offers coming from the companies where she had interned before, Carmel plans to land a job soon to be able to help her grandparents more and provide for her daughter.

But her ultimate dream, she said, is to someday attend college and become a teacher.

Other than Barrio Luz National High School, another pilot school for the K-12 program is the Zapatera National High School – where 19 graduates successfully finished grade 12 with Tesda certificates in carpentry.

Out of 47 public schools in Cebu City, the two were selected by DepEd as pilot areas for the K-12 implementation for school year 2015-2016.

The pilot schools are supported by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) and Germany’s AFOS Foundation, said Cebu City DepEd Division Superintendent Bianito Dagatan.