QUEZON CITY (PIA) -- The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) on Wednesday, July 28, stressed that upskilling, retooling, and upgrading workers are answers to unemployment.
“Through our various training programs, TESDA not just provides knowledge to workers but also new, additional skills. We [also] connect them to companies for employment or livelihood (via our partnerships and linkages),” said TESDA Deputy Director-General Aniceto Bertiz during the #Laging Handa Public Briefing.
In the past year, TESDA has established 63 partnerships with companies under the Enterprise-Based Training Program, 22 of which have agreements signed by Secretary Isidro Lapena.
“Under this program, we provide training to displaced workers, those with existing jobs but need additional knowledge and skills, and repatriated OFWs. More than 1 million repatriated OFWs benefitted from this program,” he said.
Trained workers can access the partner companies, and the latter can choose from among TESDA graduates for employment.
“This is a holistic approach - Kaalaman, Kakayahan, Kabuhayan (Knowledge, Skills, Livelihood), from enrollment to employment,” he said.
Other programs not just provide skills training but also financial assistance.
TESDA launched the OFW RISE (Reintegration via Skills and Entrepreneurship) Program under the National Reintegration Center for OFWs of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, wherein repatriated OFWs can access financial capital by as much as P1 million after undergoing upskilling, retooling, and upgrading training.
The TESDA-Coca Cola STAR Program, on the other hand, empowered more than 200 women and sari-sari store owners by giving them training on managing a business and financial capital.
TESDA also offers online courses – from bread-making to small engine mechanics - which are beneficial, especially to those at home during this pandemic.
But, Bertiz pointed out that training programs are demand-driven and based on what the industries need.
Concentration is still with priority sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, construction, IT-BPO. “What the industry needs, we create,” he said. (CPC/PIA-IDPD/ with photo from PNA)
