There is no doubt that education and obtaining a college degree changed the destinies of many individuals—empowering them to live in comfort and prosperity.
For SM Foundation scholar graduates, this meant helping another sibling pursue a college education and realizing the vision of SM Founder Mr. Henry Sy Sr. to eradicate intergenerational poverty through education. “Education is the greatest equalizer,” Mr. Sy Sr. was once quoted.
The SM scholarship program is the flagship program of SM Foundation. Like other SM Foundation program beneficiaries, the scholars are instilled with the life principles of its founder.
Two of these principles are aligned with giving back: “Make it your mission to provide employment” and “Social responsibility is important.”
Since the establishment of college scholarship program about 4, 849 have graduated across the country. Most of them have sought employment while others opted to be entrepreneurs and are now providing livelihood opportunities to others.
A few years after the college scholarship program opened to provide financially challenged but deserving high school graduates from public schools an opportunity to earn college degrees, SM Foundation initiated its Technical-Vocational Scholarship Program.
The program complements government efforts to provide opportunities to out-of-school youth and high school graduates who do not want to pursue four-year college degrees. The courses offered in the program consist of curricula to train the beneficiaries with specific skills and enhance these so they can be employable in the hospitality and manufacturing-related services.
In pursuing its tech-voc scholarship program, SM Foundation collaborated with schools offering technical-vocation courses such as Don Bosco, Punlaan School, Dualtech Training Center, and Meralco Foundation, among others.
With the advancement of technology that is rapidly shaping the employment landscape, SM Foundation is re-examining the educational goals under its scholarship programs. It recognizes that the education or training to be provided must meet the requirements available for employment. It is reshaping its programs to prioritize flexibility, employability, and industry demand.
According to Anne Racoma, SMFI external programs manager for the SM Foundation Scholarship Program, not everyone is ready or equipped or interested even in a college degree. “Some students, they’re just trying to figure out what they want in life, what they need in life,” she added.
A “skills-to-work” model will be introduced by SM Foundation in its technical-vocational program where the primary consideration is the labor demand.
SMFI manager for partnerships Joy Guevara said the Foundation will work with the industry to identify the manpower skills on demand or needed. Then it will partner with schools to develop the content or a training. “Then we look for the scholars, she added.”
“It’s like the technical vocation [education], the difference there is this is really targeted towards students or aspiring students who want immediate jobs or who need immediate jobs,” Racoma stated. This involves short-term certifications and micro-credentials that focus on the skills to do the job.
To date, the tech-voc scholarship program has produced 5,090 graduates.
