Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No.__ 1735

INTRODUCED BY HON. MARCELINO “MARCY” R. TEODORO

EXPLANTORY NOTE

This bill seeks to create the National Career Assessment Examination to
institutionalize a career direction program for secondary school graduates.

Specifically, the measure will direct all high school graduates seeking
admission to any post-secondary degree or non-degree course, or a
technological/vocational course, or an entrepreneurial course to undergo the
National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE). The proposed NCAE shall be
administered throughout the country on the last Wednesday of August of every
year, in the place where the provincial or city Division Office is located.

NCAE shall serve as basis to measure the aptitudes and skills of the
students based on the following categories, namely: general scholastic aptitude,
technical-vocational aptitude, entrepreneurial skills, non-verbal ability and
occupational fields of interest. However, it must be emphasized that the results of
the NCAE shall be used only for career guidance and not for any other purpose as
for ranking and in the advertisement of schools.

Ultimately, the primordial objectives of the bill is to guarantee protection and
promotion of the right of all citizens to quality education by providing a fair,
reasonable and equitable assessment of academic requirements for admission to
tertiary education and to assess the academic, technical and vocational aptitudes
of secondary school graduates in order to facilitate and rationalize their placement
in degree and nondegree courses, as the case may be.

Thus, approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

MARCELINO “MARCY” R. TEODORO

Representative, 1°'District
City of Marikina


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No.__1735

INTRODUCED BY HON.’MARCELINO “MARCY” R. TEODORO

AN ACT
CREATING THE NATIONAL CAREER ASSESSMENT EXAMINATION TO
INSTITUTIONALIZE A CAREER DIRECTION PROGRAM FOR SECONDARY
SCHOOL GRADUATES, DEFINING ITS SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “National Career
Assessment Examination Act of 2010”.

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared to be the policy of the State to
maintain the highest quality of education for purposes of national development and to
respect the right of every citizen to select a profession or course of study, subject to
fair, reasonable and equitable admission and academic requirements.

Towards this end, secondary education shall give emphasis to the development of
different aptitude and interests of the students so as to equip them with appropriate
knowledge and skills that will enable them to become useful, productive and gainfully
employed members of the society.

It is further declared that an assessment of the career aptitude of secondary school
graduates shall be made as a guide for students when taking up tertiary education as
well as vocational or technological courses where their potentials will be best
developed and where their training and/or education will be needed for national
development.

SEC. 3. Nature and Scope. ~ There is hereby created a National Career Assessment
Examination (NCAE) which shall serve as an assessment test that may determine the
potential or aptitude of every secondary school graduate to pursue a four (4)- or five
(5)-year college degree course, a technological/vocational course or an
entrepreneurial course.

Itaims to maintain the highest quality of education in the Philippines by regulating and
monitoring the flow of secondary school graduates to said courses where they have
better aptitude or potential. ‘

SEC. 4. Purposes and Objectives. - This Act shall have the following purposes and
objectives:

(a) To guarantee protection and promotion of the right of all citizens to quality
education at all levels;

(b) To provide fair, reasonable and equitable admission and academic requirements;
(c) To reduce wastage in education arising from dropping out, noncompletion and/or
low performance of students in colleges and universities and the decreasing


percentage of successful examinees in professional licensure examinations;

(d) To assess the academic, technical and vocational aptitudes of high school
graduates in order to facilitate and rationalize their placement in degree and
non-degree courses as the case may be; and

(e) To attain excellence in education within the context of nationaldevelopment, to
‘open more job opportunities to our labor force and to properly utilize their productive
potentials.

SEC. 5. Scope of Examination. — Beginning school year 2010 to 2011 and every year
thereafter, all high school graduates seeking admission to any post-secondary degree
or non-degree course, or a technological/vocational course, or an entrepreneurial
course shall henceforth be required to undergo an NCAE.

The results of the test for each examinee shall serve as a guide for him/her to choose
the degree or non-degree course or career after graduating high school. Such test
results shall serve as a prerequisite for enrollment by all secondary school graduates
to any post-secondary degree or non-degree course or a technological/vocational
course or entrepreneurial course. The test results which indicate the skill/aptitude to
which a student may aptly succeed shall be one of the basis of his/her enrollment in a
tertiary course.

SEC. 6. Test Administration. - The Department of Education (DepED) shall conduct
an annual NCAE through the National Education Testing and Research Center
(NETRC) to carry out the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 7. Powers and Duties of the Secretary. — To carry out the purposes and
objectives of the NCAE, the Secretary of Education is hereby vested with the following
authority:

(a) To conduct an annual NCAE through the NETRC in order to promote and
implement a program that assesses and evaluates the potential or aptitude
of each and every secondary school graduate to pursue a four (4)- or five
(5}-year college degree course, a technological/vocational course, or a
short entrepreneurial course;

(b) To determine the method, form and content, both the test and the process of
checking and evaluating its results, as well as to fix the date and place(s) of
examination;

(c) To enter, when desirable or necessary, into agreements or contracts with
qualified persons, institutions, organizations, government agencies,
entities and establishments to make payments incidental to such
agreements or contracts, to carry out the purposes and objectives of this
Act;

(d) To determine, as the exigencies or national interest may dictate,

exemptions from the provisions of this Act; and (e) To do such other acts as
may be proper and necessary in order to achieve the policies of the NCAE.

SEC. 8. Content of Examination. - The NCAE shall measure the following aptitudes
and skills of secondary school graduates, to wit:

(a) General Scholastic Aptitude:
(1) Scientific Ability — This is an assessment of the individual's scientific abilities
and skills to adopt scientific methods, procedures and processes in constructing
knowledge and solving experimental or real-life problems.
(2) Reading Comprehension — This measures the ability to understand what has been
stated directly; to analyze, interpret and criticize what has been read; and to recognize
reasonable application of principles or opinions expressed by the author,
(3) Verbal Ability — This subtest measures the assertive ability of a person in view
of grammatical rules and logical arrangement of ideas.
(4) Mathematical Ability - This subtest is used to assess quantitative abilities and


computational skills, particularly on working with numbers, perceiving relationship
between two (2) quantities and solving arithmetic problems.
(5) Logical Reasoning Ability — This subtest is used to assess the logical and critical
thinking and reasoning ability.
(b) Technical-Vocational Aptitude:
(1) Manipulative Skills — This subtest measures abilities that require perceptual and
visual judgment in determining figures, symbols, patterns and nature of space, as
well as skills in mentally manipulating objects and concrete materials.
(2) Clerical Ability — This is a test of ability and skill to encode data/information and file
office records, and ability to note details.
(c) Entrepreneurial Skills - This is a test to assess one’s capacity to engage in
business undertakings. .
(d) Non-Verbal Ability - This tests a person's reasoning ability to identify the patterns
presented in diagrammatic form.
(e) Occupational Fields of Interest:
(1) Outdoor Interests - This means that one will enjoy working with naturalistic
environment such as plants and animals.
(2) Mechanical Interests — This means that one will enjoy working with real-world
materials.
(3) Investigative Interests — This means that one will enjoy activities which require
mental work or using thinking skills.
(4) Artistic Interests — This means that one will enjoy acti
side of things such as forms, designs and patterns.
(5) Social Interests — This means that one will enjoy with work activities that assist
other people and promote learning and personal development.
(6) Enterprising Interests — This means that one will ike activities that have something
to do with carrying out a project especially on business ventures.
(7) Clerical Interests — This means that one will enjoy work activities that follow set
of procedures and routines.

s that look at the artistic

SEC. 9. Involvement of Other Agencies. — The Commission on Higher Education
(CHED), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the
Department of Science and Technology (DOST) shall implement a program in
accordance with the NCAE results, as follows:
(a) To promote prudent and economic use of government funds, the CHED
shall utilize the results of the NCAE as basis for the selection of grantees for its
scholarship program;
(b) To further promote manpower skills development program, the TESDA and the
CHED shall adopt an educational program attuned with the NCAE result; and
(c) To set the cut-off score for the various courses of the CHED and the TESDA
through their technical panels.

SEC. 10. Examination Centers and Date of Examination. — Unless otherwise
previously announced, the NCAE shall be administered throughout the country on the
last Wednesday of August of every year, in the place where the provincial or city
division office is located: Provided, however, That additional examination centers
may be established in the province as may be determined by the Division Examination
Committee and approved by the Secretary of Education.

SEC. 11. Processing of the Examination Results. - The processing of the
examination results shall be in the National Capital Region through the NETRC.

SEC. 12. Issuance of otice and Certification. — The notice and certification shall be
issued under the following circumstances:
(a) The certificate of ratings of examinees in the NCAE shall be issued each
year by the Secretary of Education through the NETRC;
(b) Each examinee shall be given a Certificate of Rating indicatinghis/her rating in the
domains of the NCAE;
(c) A consolidated master list of the names of examinees shall be made available in


the division office concerned;

(d) Questions relating to the results of the NCAE shall be verified from the master listin
the office mentioned in the preceding paragraph and/or with the NETRC; and

(e) Issuance of a second copy of the NCAE Certificate of Rating can be requested
from the NETRC.

SEC. 13. Limitations. - The results of the NCAE shall not automatically entitle a
student for admission into any particular academic, professional course in a higher
learning institution or for a technological/vocational course in post-secondary
institution which can impose its own entrance examination as a requirement for
admission.

Institutional results of the NCAE shall be used only for career guidance and not for any
other purpose, as for ranking and in the advertisement of schools.

SEC. 14. Miscellaneous Provisions. — Any official, employee or teacher who violates
or causes the violation of the provisions of this Act, or commits or causes to commit
any acts of dishonesty or misconduct related to the performance of his/her duties in
the administration of the NCAE shall be administratively dealt with in accordance with
existing civil service laws, rules and regulations: Provided, That if the offender is an
official, employee or teacher in the private school institution, the same shall be dealt
with in accordance with applicable laws.

‘Students who commit or cause the commission of any act of dishonesty or misconduct
concerning their application to, or in taking the NCAE shall be barred from further
taking the same and the correction of their examination papers withheld, without
prejudice to any disciplinary administrative action that may be taken against them in
accordance with existing rules and regulations of the DepED.

The Secretary of Education may issue from time to time supplementary instructions or
directions and/or amendments to any provision of the rules and regulations
implementing this Act as he/she may deem proper and necessary.

SEC. 15. Rules and Regulations. — The Secretary of Education shall, within sixty (60)
days after the effectivity of this Act, promulgate such rules and regulations that may be
necessary for the implementation of this Act: Provided, That the initial implementation
of the program shall be done for high school graduates for the school year 2010 to
2011.

The implementing rules and regulations shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in at least one (1) newspaper of general
circulation.

SEC. 16. Separability Clause. — If a portion or provision of this Act shall be declared
unconstitutional, other parts or provisions hereof which are not affected thereby shall
continue to be in full force and effect.

SEC. 17. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees, rules and regulations or parts thereof
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended or modified
accordingly.

SEC. 18. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,