Now that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is back as an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the two agencies will work together to provide people with more skills training, employment, and livelihood, the TESDA chief announced Friday.
“Ang aming ahensiya ay malugod na tinatanggap ang pagbabalik namin sa ilalim ng DOLE. Ito ay magpapalakas sa aming mga ugnayan at magpapalakas din sa mga proyekto na binibigay natin sa ating mga kababayan. (Our agency gladly accepts our return as an agency under the DOLE. This will strengthen not just our linkage , but also our programs for the people),” TESDA Director General Danilo Cruz said in a public briefing.
He said TESDA and DOLE are currently developing a system that will enable them to better apprise the industries’ needs so they would know what kind of workers need to be trained to address the demand.
TESDA’s skills registry and the DOLE’s skills mapping can be combined in this system. “If we could combine these and do it under the PhilJobNet, people will see the kind of workers that the industries are looking for,” Cruz said.
He noted that TESDA has always included the industries in implementing its programs. This also helps TESDA to identify the right training regulations that should be adopted to address the industries’ needs.
Another partnership between DOLE and TESDA is on the provision of skills training to those who were affected by the magnitude 7 northwestern Luzon earthquake last July.
“We will include skills training in their TUPAD (Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers). For the houses that were damaged by the earthquake, we will provide carpenters, mason, electrician. We call it training with production,” he said.
The Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) is a community-based package of assistance that provides emergency employment for displaced workers, underemployed, and seasonal workers, for a minimum period of 10 days and a maximum of 30 days, depending on the nature of work to be performed.
TESDA will also provide the trainees with tool kits, while DOLE will provide them an allowance, said Cruz.
Cruz pointed out that beneficiaries of their program could use the acquired skills to look for jobs.
About 1,400 individuals are being eyed to benefit from this DOLE-TESDA initiative. (PNA)