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BY HERBERT VEGO
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Reformed TESDA under Mamondiong
WHAT’S new at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) under new Director General Guiling “Gene” A. Mamondiong?
“He is obsessed with programs aimed at reducing poverty and boosting employment opportunities,” so said Regional Director Toni June Tamayo in a powwow with this columnist. “To do that, he is reaching out to the barangays, encouraging the youth to enroll in technical-vocational courses that lead to good-paying jobs.”
He cited construction-related courses as among the most in-demand today. Welders, carpenters, pipe fitters, house painters, masons, heavy equipment operators and plumbers are among those in demand and highly paid here and abroad.
I agreed, volunteering the information that coal-hauling truck drivers in Semirara Island earn an average of P75,000 per month. I know; I was there last month.
By “reformation,” the new TESDA head does not really mean discarding the thrusts of his predecessor, Senator Joel Villanueva. On the contrary, Tamayo explained, Mamondiong would even strengthen them.
For example, the so-called Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) is now undergoing technical audit aimed at removing fly-by-night technical-vocational schools from TESDA accreditation. Under TWSP, around 180 participating schools in West Visayas alone have inked contracts with companies employing technical-vocational students so that by the time the latter finish their courses, they would have gained experience for full-time employment.
Under the “TESDA 14-point Reform and Development Agenda,” the following programs have been identified:
1) Barangay-based Scholarship Program;
2) On-line Scholarship Application;
3) Technical Audit of Technical-Vocational Schools;
4) Skills Training for Drug Dependents;
5) Skills Training for Entrepreneurs and Family Enterprises;
6) Skills Training Program for Inmates and their Families;
7) Inclusive Training Program for Women;
8) Continuing Program for TESDA’s Alumni;
9) Global Access to/on-line database of TVET Graduates and Certified Workers;
10) Linkages with Agro-Industry;
11) Linkages with State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs);
12) Linkages with Foreign Skills Training Institutions;
13) Transparency; and
14) Moral Renewal.
No doubt the above agenda will help empower trainees to be more productive members of society with employable skills.
The barangay-based scholarship program or “Barangay Kasanayan para sa Kabuhayan at Kapayapaan” (BKKK) is now active in coordinating with the more than 42,000 barangays in the country to gather data on the training programs that are most needed in their respected areas. It is preferably aimed at affording opportunities to the poor who have little access to skills training.
A good example of a barangay-based, TESDA-sponsored adjunct is the Goodhands Development and Training Center, which this writer personally visited at Barangay San Pedro in San Jose, Antique. With Marissa S. Moscoso as administrator, it has also produced hundreds of graduates in Massage Therapy, Hilot (Wellness Massage), Agricultural Crops Production and Nail Care Services.
“They are now earning well,” Moscoso revealed of the graduates of the 70-day course in Massage Therapy. “They now comprise the masseurs working in all four spas here in San Jose.”
Goodhands is also TESDA’s accredited assessment center in Antique for the above courses.
“It’s not just TESDA,” Moscoso said, “that is involved in sponsoring beneficiaries’ scholarships.”
Indeed, so are the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) and the Municipality of San Jose de Buenavista. Under DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), 75 beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) will be trained in Hilot (Wellness Massage) and 75 others in Agricultural Crops Production.
With the help of Mayor Elmer Untaran of San Jose, Moscoso will soon be using the town’s fertile agricultural lot, Farmville (a stone’s throw away from Goodhands’ school building), as training ground for the students of a new course, Organic Agriculture. Hurray!/PN
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