TAGUIG CITY -- The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is eyeing to train around 1.8 million Filipinos in various technical vocational courses in 2023.

In a recent media interview, TESDA Director General Danilo P. Cruz said that the agency is committed to improving its numbers when it comes to enrolled, graduated, assessed, and certified TVET scholars.

In 2022, a total of 1,261,244 enrolled in various tech-voc courses of which 1,231,289 have graduated. Likewise, 907,244 were assessed and 844,368 were certified as skilled workers.

According to DG Cruz, these were the products of the 183 TESDA Technology Institutions, 250 public TVET providers, and 4,197 privately-run tech-voc institutions nationwide, implementing more than 17,000 tech-voc training programs.

“As these registered programs comply with the Training Regulations that TESDA developed in close coordination with industry, their graduates are job-ready, with the right skills and knowledge needed by employers,” DG Cruz said.

Meanwhile, the preliminary results of the 2022 Study on the Employment of TVET Graduates (SETG) showed that 8 out of 10 of the country’s technical vocational education and training (TVET) products were able to find jobs.

According to DG Cruz this employment rate of 84.72% can be attributed to the opening up of the economy and TESDA’s pursuit of area-based and demand-driven TVET.

The SETG is conducted annually to measure the relevance and effectiveness of tech-voc training programs.

“Sa area-based and demand-driven TVET, pinag-aaralan namin at tinutugunan namin ang mga pangangailangan ng industriya sa buong kapuluan,” the TESDA chief said.

TESDA’s area-based and demand-driven TVET is responsive to the critical needs defined by the industries and employers to produce rightfully skilled workers in specific areas or localities. (TESDA)