BAGUIO CITY (PIA) – – The Department of Science and Technology encourages graduating senior high school students to enroll in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses as the present demand is greater than the available supply of STEM- trained workers.
According to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), there will be an undersupply of STEM- trained workers in the fields of life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, statistics and engineering by 2025, DOST – Cordillera Regional Director Dr. Nancy Bantog shared in an interview over Radyo Pilipinas here.
A PIDS recent research entitled “Future S&T Human Resource Requirement in the Philippines: A Labor Market Analysis”, stated that the Philippines is currently facing challenges in advancing Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) because of the low supply of researches, engineers and scientists in the country.
To address the undersupply in diverse S&T workforce and to boost the country’s competitiveness in STI, there is a need to encourage more Filipino youth to go into STEM courses, Bantog said.
She informed that to assist S&T students, DOST has the Science Education Institute that is providing scholarship programs such as the Undergraduate Scholarship Program for incoming first year students and the Junior Level Science Scholarship Program for incoming third year or regular second year college students.
Based on DOST – CAR data, there are currently 1,111 on-going scholars from the Cordillera, with 254 new scholars (224 for the 2022 Undergraduate Scholarship and 25 for the 2021 JLSS program).
As the regional partner of the DOST – SEI, Bantog said the DOST – CAR is continuously exerting efforts to advocate projects that will increase awareness of the public regarding the scholarship program.
One such effort is a radio program titled “Dad-at Di DOST Scholar: A DOST Scholar Story” over Radyo Pilipinas Baguio where DOST scholarship graduates share their experiences on how science and technology have changed their lives and help them work for a brighter future.
