Youth On-the-Job Training and Out-of-School Apprenticeship Program
The eruption of Mayon volcano in August 2006 and the year-round torment of typhoons and various calamities in the Bicol Region not only brought devastation but also extreme hardship and moral desolation to the communities and its people. These triggered lahar flows which buried houses along its way and took its toll on the lives of many residents as well as destroying crops and plantations. With no means of livelihood and the graduating high school students having no guarantee of employment, they were forced into prostitution and other social crimes.
Survivors trying to rebuild shack from typhoon destruction.
Destitute. hungry. sick and very poor. With no means of livelihood. This was the predicament of the communities and their children. Even those who were about to graduate had to stop schooling as their parents could barely eke out a living to support themselves. What a sad state in an area that showed promise of economic upliftment, progress and development.
Yet, all things that may seem so appalling have an end.
This distressing backdrop was what influenced the Rotary Club of Palanyag Parañaque to endeavor to provide job opportunities to poor but deserving and graduating students and out-of-school-youth in the area. In cooperation with Gemphil Technologies Inc. and Polytechnic Institute of Technology Albay (PITA) in Tabaco City, Albay Province, Bicol Region, the club launched the Student On-the Job Training and Out-Of-School Youth Apprenticeship Program.
The project started in September 2007. Two hundred (200) students took the screening and exams. 176 students passed the initial screening and were transported to Manila, assigned and relocated in a community near the companies where they were expected to be employed, all with RC Palanyag Parañaque and the generosity of Gemphil Technologies Inc.
RC Palanyag-Parañaque-Gemphil Technologies training facility in the Polytechnic Institute of Technology in Albay.
The first batch of On-The-Job Training composed of 156 graduates with their benefactors last April during graduation rites.
Another batch of 190 youth passed the screening and tests given this April 2008. A total of 366 students and out-of-school-youth were given jobs to help improve their lives and secure a better tomorrow.
Aside from giving job opportunities to the deserving youths, parents were also taught livelihood projects like baking, soap and candle making, reflexology, and dressmaking. After finishing the course in 4 weeks, they will be given an initial capital to start their own business.
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