TESDA: More college graduates taking up vocational courses

MANILA, Philippines - More nurses and other professionals are now opting to take up vocational courses just so they could get employed.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director general Joel Villanueva said a great bulk of those who took vocational training courses and certification with the agency for the past years were college graduates and professionals.

“We have so many college graduates like nurses who have undergone training to become medical transcriptionists, which is among the most in demand jobs at this time,” Villanueva said.

Aside from nurses, Villanueva said, many engineering graduates or even licensed electrical engineers also underwent skill training with TESDA and secure the necessary certification for employment abroad.

Villanueva noted that there were also electrical engineers who took up a course for electric installer, a high-paying job abroad, particularly in Middle East countries.

Based on government records, Villanueva said about 25 percent of the average 1.5 million technical vocational graduates annually from TESDA-accredited vocational schools were college graduates.

“Many companies in the country have jobs to offer, but can’t find the right people. A college degree sometimes isn’t just enough because industries are looking for graduates of specialized technical courses,” Villanueva pointed out.

1.3M techvoc graduates eyed in 2012

To enable the country to fill the growing demand for qualified workers, TESDA is looking at providing vocational training education to about 1.3 million jobseekers next year.

TESDA director general Joel Villanueva said that the agency hopes to generate more than a million techvoc graduates despite their limited budget for the coming year.

Malacanang proposed a P2.725-billion budget for TESDA or P93 million less than its 2011 appropriations.

“We will judiciously use our budget and be able to give every youth a access to technical and vocational education as an alternative to formal education,” he said.

He said TESDA’s two scholarship programs – Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) and the Private Education Student Fund Assistance (PESFA) – will get P700 million and P200 million, respectively.

TESDA’s P2.725-billion budget, Villanueva said, is divided into P1.202 billion for personnel services, P1.523 billion for programs (including scholarship funds), and P20 million for capital outlay.

The agency will focus on competency assessment and certification, development promotion, and implementation of new skills development programs, upgrading and enhancement of trainor competencies.

TESDA will reach out to other government agencies, non-government organizations and private institutions and promote technical vocational education and produce more graduates with employable skills.