QUEZON CITY -- Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is encouraging trainers and professors in the agriculture sector to pursue advanced studies on modernized farming under a training program offered by Agro Studies in Israel.
TESDA Director General Danilo P. Cruz said about 500 scholarship slots have been allotted to aspiring trainers to participate in the 11-month program that exposes Filipinos to advanced studies and training in various agricultural areas.
“I encourage our trainers and professors to avail of this special training program in Israel. The knowledge and skills they would gain will not only make them better educators but will also contribute to the advancement of the Philippine agriculture sector,” he said.
Last July 28, Israeli Ambassador Ilan Fluss paid a courtesy call with DG Cruz and Deputy Directors General Rosanna A. Urdaneta and Aniceto D. Bertiz III to discuss further initiatives in strengthening the agriculture sector of the country.
Agro Studies is an international training center which offers agricultural education in Israel to interns from developing countries. Under its Agriculture Internship Program, it focuses on capacity building through practical and professional knowledge transfer in agriculture.
These courses include programs on horticulture, on animal science, and on entrepreneurial initiative where interns also participate in research subjects in farm and empower them to plan and establish agricultural business enterprise.
From 2006 to 2016, over 6,000 Filipino students from 27 state universities and colleges (SUCs) attended the program. In 2021, TESDA entered into an agreement with Agro Studies to send 500 Filipino interns for five years (2021 to 2026) in participation of seven SUCs.
In the 2020-2021 training season, TESDA facilitated the training of 401 interns. Another 400 individuals are currently undergoing the 2021-2022 training season in Israel.
Interns in the Agro Studies program receive an hourly allowance of approximately USD 9 to cover their living expenses, travel, and fees. Participants are also entitled to other work benefits, including overtime pay, annual vacation leave, paid holidays, and sick pay.
Upon completion, the interns are expected to contribute to the improvement of the agricultural curriculum of TESDA and other training institutions in the country. Scholars are required to implement the agriculture business plan they had formulated under the guidance of their Israeli tutors.
One such plan that has already started implementation is that of Rafael M. Decena Jr., an instructor at TESDA’s Quezon National Agricultural School in Pagbilao, Quezon Province.
Applying the farming techniques he had learned at Agro Studies, Decena’s proposed dairy goat project aims to promote goat milk production and teach local farmers to engage in sustainable backyard dairy farming ventures. The “Gatas para kay Juan Project” was launched last March 28.
To register in the TESDA-Agrostudies training program, interested applicants may visit https://agro-studies.tesda. gov.ph/. (TESDA)
