President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday said one-third of technical and vocational education training (TVET) graduates over the past year are scholars of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

During his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), Marcos on Monday said that since last year more than a million Filipinos graduated from TVET.

“We will not let a student’s financial constraints be a hindrance to education,” he said.

Marcos noted that the government continues to exhaust all efforts “to keep young people away from the sinister influences in the “dark corners of society” by making available to them formal schooling, alternative learning, non-diploma courses, or TVET.

He added that the government has activated social safety nets, such as skills development training and youth employment programs.

Data from TESDA showed there were 1,248,660 who enrolled in TVET courses from July 2022 to May 2023. A total of 1,135,783 of them graduated during the same period.

TESDA has been urging the public to avail of its scholarship program. Aside from allowance, scholars are also provided with tool kits that they could use should they decide to pursue a livelihood after training.

Scholarships offered earlier this year focus on the following priority sectors: agriculture, construction, health, education, tourism, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, IT-BPM, creative industries and energy.

These include popular TESDA courses such as: Driving NC II, Bread and Pastry Production NC II, Caregiving NC II, Electrical Installation & Maintenance NC II, Shielded Metal Arc Welding NC II, Organic Agriculture Production NC II, Shielded Metal Arc Welding NC I, Cookery NC II, Contact Center Services NC II, and Food & Beverage Services NC II.

Scholarship slots are being offered year-round. Last year, some 282,818 scholars graduated from various courses last year, and TESDA certified 123,331 workers.

The President, meanwhile, also pointed out that training is necessary to ease the transition of those whose jobs would be affected by the shift to digitalization, and that these are now included in the curricula and programs offered by TESDA and other government agencies.

“TVET continues to prove itself to be an empowering educational intervention,” Marcos said.

Marcos, likewise, mentioned that TESDA is among the agencies that supports the needy, through its TVET for Social Equity plan.

Based on TESDA’s website, this plan and the TVET for Global Competitiveness, offer more training services to urban and rural poor, farmers, fisher folks, indigenous people, women, rebel returnees/combatants, drug dependents, repatriated overseas Filipino workers, out-of-school youths, micro, small and medium enterprises, family enterprises, and local government units. (PNA)