Prechell G. Casing

November 22, 2004

Youngblood

What lies ahead…

Of the ten million jobs Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo promised in her   10-point pro-poor agenda, how many of those would be available for development communication students?  Or a more basic and simpler question to ask, will the devcom graduates be able to work right after graduation?

It is always assumed that graduating students will hunt for jobs after receiving their diplomas to either make use of their course or to help their own families in their finances, the latter being the primary reason.

However, in evaluating the present employment rate in the Philippines, only 31.6 million have work as of July this year with a meager increase of 5.7 percent employed persons in the agricultural sector.

Is the meager increase a sign of improvement?

The unemployment rate, on the other hand, was estimated at 11.7percent or slightly more than two million individuals with around 46.6 percent of them aged 15-24 years old.

Indeed, the figures speak that there are more employed than unemployed persons.  Yet, it is only limited to telling as such without elaborating the real score.  Some of them may have work but are underemployed with salaries that are insufficient to enable them and their families to live decently.

Improvement is defined as the act of improving; advancement or growth; promotion in desirable qualities; progress toward what is better.  The comparison of the figures does not support such definition of improvement.

There remains the sad fact that the minute growth in the employment rate does not guarantee the incoming graduates of better jobs or at least a job.

What then would be the possible scenario if this school year’s senior students graduate?

The two-million-record will surely increase by some percent.  That is if the government would fail to provide what it had promised to fulfill.

So what would then be the future of the potential development workers?  What is in store for them?

A development communication teacher in a university was saddened when she met one of her former students who is now studying nursing in another university.  She asked her why she decided to do so.  The student replied:  “I am planning to have a family of my own.  I want to feed them and give them decent lives.”

Such dialogue shows the insecurities that some devcom students have with the course they had chosen to tread.  They are uncertain if they will be able to find many opportunities that will provide justification for the four years (or more) that they spend in college.

All of us do dream of living better lives.  Who else do not?

Many of these devcom students dream of living as such that is why they are in search of that greener pasture.  That is also why many of them want to join the exodus heading to foreign continents, the Filipino Diaspora.

They think Mang Juan could no longer provide the fulfillment of their dreams and so, off they went to Uncle Sam to ask for the same favor.

Yet, what they do not seem to see is the other alternative other than leaving the country. 

The pathetic situation of the Philippines and its immediate localities alone posts a lot of job vacancies. The Philippines, in fact, is highly in need of development workers that will help the country to lift itself from the mire, from poverty. 

It is in need of solid work force to obtain what it hopes of a developed Philippines – a work which is very devcom. 

Of the ten million jobs that Arroyo said, there is more to it for devcom students.  Mang Juan is more in need of them than Uncle Sam.

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i was just checking my mails in yahoo when i saw this stored under my draft folder. i found it so strange that i was able to write this before. not because it was written in at least more organize manner, but because i just found it not-so-me. this piece makes sense & it means a lot to me coz it signifies the me before, of who i used to be — a person of content. if you’ve been reading my entries recently, you’ll notice the huge difference. it’s like reading the thought of two different persons. multi-personality disorder. toinks! hehe… nice try