DTI emphasizes upskilling workforce, students for digitalization

THERE is a need to upskill the workforce and revamp the school curriculum for digitalization to thrive in the Philippines, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual emphasized.

In his inaugural address via video message at the Philippines Future Skill Summit 2023 on Tuesday, Pascual said those two measures are needed as Southeast Asia is making a massive digital shift.

“For the people that breathe life into enterprises, industries, and our economy, we place human capital development at the center of harnessing digital transformation. It is necessary — and a matter of survival for companies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era — that employees are equipped with adequate and responsive digital skills,” Pascual explained. “Many workers must now know and speak the ‘digital language,’ regardless of their competency level.”

With this in mind, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have launched several initiatives to upscale digitalization in the country, including the Philippines Future Skill Summit 2023.

The summit enabled participants to learn about upskilling workforces and transforming the educational landscape for the future market for digital skills. This view is supported by Confexhub Chief Executive Officer Paul Yeo.

“This is also for the goal of making Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) overall a top digital hub of the world as despite being behind our peers in terms of a digital economy, we have the potential to enter the top 5 digital economies in the world by 2025 if we can continue with these initiatives all over the region,” he added.

Pascual also pointed out that the involvement of stakeholders is important for the country to thrive in digitalization.

“In upskilling the workforce, our government cannot carry on the work independently. We need a whole-of-society approach — with government, [the] academe, businesses and civil society working together,” the Trade chief concluded.