An official of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) on Tuesday urged the public, especially the workers, to harness their skills and gain micro-credentials.

“Our countrymen, especially the overseas Filipino workers, need to enhance the skills and knowledge that they gained. Through micro-credentialing, as well as partnership with various industries, we could expand the skills of the people,” TESDA Deputy Director General Aniceto Bertiz III said at a public briefing.

He noted that TESDA has been offering many courses, including ladderized program and three-year diploma courses on electrical engineering and agricultural technologies.

“After finishing the three-year course, they could receive a minimum of 21 NCs (national certificates) and they are job ready. We are also coordinating with other countries. We recently had a talk with the Canadian government on boosting our skills training for healthcare workers,” he said.

Bertiz also said that the country has signed an agreement with Hungary on the latest training and skills development. Priority sectors according to him are agriculture, construction, IT-BPOs, healthcare, and tourism.

He said about 86 percent of TESDA graduates are able to land a job both here and abroad.

“Most of our curriculum now were developed together with our industry partners. So we know that these courses would help our learners land a job. We previously strengthened our foreign language skills training and this has given huge job opportunities here. We are offering Nihongo, Chinese Mandarin, Korean, German, French, Arabic language courses — and the IT-BPOs benefit from these,” he continued.

Bertiz added that TESDA is also coordinating with local government units in boosting its modern skills training, such as cyber security, modern agriculture technology, drone operation, and renewable energies.

These courses, Bertiz said, may be availed of through TESDA’s various scholarship programs. (PNA)

Photo Credit: Facebook/TESDAOfficial