Students, teachers trained on making bags from water hyacinth

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Fifty high school students and teachers here have just been trained on production of bags from dried water hyacinth stalks under a program meant to encourage entrepreneurship among local sectors.

In a statement Thursday, the office here of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the training was facilitated with the help of entrepreneurial groups the department has been providing with technology and market contacts.

The training last week of the students and faculty members of the LR Sebastian Annex of the Cotabato City National High School was part of the DTI's Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Roving Academy.

The activity was assisted by a group of skilled water hyacinth bag makers the office of DTI in Cotabato City had earlier provided with equipment through the department’s Shared Service Facility program.

Ruth Mokamad, auditor of the Rio Grande Pusaw Handicraft Association, lectured on how dried water hyacinth stalks can be utilized for production of bags and home decors.

Carlito Nuñez, officer-in-charge of DTI’s office in Cotabato City, said they are ready to provide livelihood trainings for students on the behest of school administrators.

The students of the CCNHS in LR Sebastian and their teachers were given lectures on utilization of water hyacinth stalks for marketable products for two days, according to Nuñez. 

He said Mokamad also encouraged participating students to be patient and diligent in their efforts to produce bags and home decors for their products to become competitive. 

Workshops were also facilitated by Mokamad with the help of DTI employees for the students to have hands-on experience in producing bags from water hyacinth by-products. 

Nuñez said interested schools just have to communicate with the DTI if  interested to avail of the department’s roving academy interventions. 

The training of students and teachers in Cotabato City last week was not the DTI's first. The department facilitated on May 29 this year an orientation on entrepreneurship involving 50 participants, mostly small local entrepreneurs and prospective traders.

The participants to the orientation activity, held at the function hall of the Southseas Complex in Cotabato City, were lectured on entrepreneurship development, basic bookkeeping, and on the intricacies of the Republic Act 9187, also known as Barangay Micro Business Enterprises Act.