“There is no end to education, therefore innovation is important.”

Gov. Edgar Chatto said of the Turo-Turismo Industry Linkage Program.

According to Chatto, the Program sees the need for infrastructure and support system to pave the way for tourism growth.

He emphasized that in the goal of sustainable development, government works with business sector, civil society, and private sector; and for tourism to thrive, policies and programs must prioritize initiatives towards growth and development of industry.

The objective therefore, he added, to create more jobs and to lessen poverty through engines for growth: tourism, agriculture, and ICT, means the education sector must support that direction and complement industry needs.

It gathered together DepEd, Coalitions for Change in Education partnership of The Asia Foundation-Australian Embassy in the Philippines, Bohol Association of Hotels Resorts and Restaurants (BAHRR), the Provincial Government of Bohol and LGU Panglao to establish a tourism curriculum for senior high school, and to build a tourism facility in Lourdes National High School.

On World Tourism Day, September 27, Bohol launched contextualized materials for tourism based Senior High School.

According to Henry Grageda, senior program officer of The Asia Foundation, what the Bohol model does is not only to demonstrate progress and leadership.

Grageda said the Bohol experience is a lesson in believing in the future and working together to make it happen, and in the process, inspiring and encouraging other local governments to pursue the same path.

Turo-turismo began with a forum of stakeholders, the establishment of a curriculum for a tourism track for Senior High School, the conduct of an immersion program for teachers, the production of the contextualized materials, and the construction of a tourism facility in Lourdes National High School in Panglao.

Turo-turismo now paves the way for the same contextualized learning for agri-entrepreneurship in terms of market linkage for an agricultural training center in Ubay.

Dr. Emeliano Elnar, curriculum development head of DepEd region 7, congratulated Bohol for its vision and for this achievement in the education sector, committing to bring other DepEd divisions to benchmark in Bohol.

Also present during the launch were SP chair on tourism Board Member Alexi Tutor, BAHRR president and Bellevue general manager Rommel Gonzales, and DepEd Bohol Division superintendent Dr. Wilfreda Bongalos.

Participants of Turo-Turismo also dropped by the ongoing construction of the tourism facility in Lourdes, Panglao.(Leah/EDCOM)