SUAL, Pangasinan (21 November) -- The National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) that was phased out in 1994 will soon be replaced by the National College Assessment Examination (NCAE), according to Department of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus.

Lapus, speaking during the launching of the Adopt-A-School Program here last Friday, said NCAE is like a career counseling that will guide students after high school.

He said NCAE will include what was normally tested in the old NCEE -- the general scholastic ability of fourth year high school students -- and will be given in both verbal and non-verbal form.

He said among others, NCAE will measure the competency of students in areas like Mathematics, English and Science so that the passers "would be advised on what careers they would take."

"If the tests found the students to have scored high in Math and Science (non-verbal), he would be advised to take engineering, architecture or computer science," he said.

On the other hand, if the test showed the student excels in verbal, he would be advised to take Liberal Arts, teaching or others that really fit his or her talent.

Lapus said that aside from this, there is a domain in NCAE that will measure the technical and vocational aptitude of students, so that if the latter is inclined to these fields, they would be advised to focus on these.

He said NCAE will also provide an option for the students to pursue entrepreneurship as there are some may want to put up their own businesses instead of continuing with their college studies.

"This is like career guidance, so it is called career assessment," he said.

At the same time, Lapus admitted that the private sector is complaining about the mediocre output of the school system as companies could not hire the number of people that they want.

He cited the case of call centers agents, only three often pass the grade.

Lapus said what is being blamed for this sad reality is the school system, adding that teachers take the responsibility for they need re-training and re-tooling.