Schools here should offer courses that will support the current trends in digital marketing.

Speaking during the opening of the 16th Leyte Business Conference at Leyte Academic Center here on Tuesday, Governor Carlos Jericho Petilla said he noticed that almost all schools in the region offer mostly traditional courses such as Education and Criminology.

“We have to change the way we think because we will be left behind. Our schools have to look into in-demand jobs in this digital age,” Petilla told participants that included businessmen, professors and students.

Coders, ethical hackers, online merchandisers, electronic gamers, and application developers are among the most in-demand jobs, according to Petilla.

“We need to change our curriculum to adapt to the signs of the times,” said Petilla, who owns a business process outsourcing firm here.

He cited Manila’s Mapua University that offers a Bachelor of Science course in Entertainment and Multimedia Computing major in Game Development, while Lyceum of the Philippines University has a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Sports.

The two-day business conference with the theme “Bouncing Back Better through Sustainable Technology and Innovation” is organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and industry (PCCI) Tacloban – Leyte Incorporated.

Discussions are centered on digital marketing, agricultural modernization, and the tourism industry, the first face-to-face business conference by the local PCCI chapter since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in March 2020.

Eugene Tan, PCCI Tacloban-Leyte, Inc. president, said digital marketing must be encouraged among local businesses.

“We also included agriculture since we have been getting feedbacks from rice millers that our local farmers have been producing less rice due to high production cost,” he added.

A job fair is being held alongside the conference with 1,000 offerings from 52 participating local firms. (PNA)