CEBU, Philippines - Technical Education and Skills Development Authority is offering at least 15,000 scholarship slots for training in Central Visayas this year, TESDA director general Joel Villanueva announced.
Villanueva said more than half of the slots will be open for Cebu, 2,000 for Bohol, 1,500 for Negros Oriental, and less than 1,000 for Siquijor.
“There are slots that have yet to be filled, and that the number may still increase,” Villanueva said yesterday in a press conference at the University of Cebu–Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue.
The scholarship programs offered by TESDA are the Training for Work Scholarship Program, Private Education Student Fund, Assistance Program, Special Training for Employment and the Bottom-Up, he said.
“This year, the agency has P3.3-billion budget to help unemployed people get skills to land a job,” said Villanueva.
He added that among the in demand skills outside the Philippines are slaughtering (butcher) and welding as well as tourism courses or skills in food and beverage service, including bartending and housekeeping.
To reach out more to the community in need of jobs, Villanueva said TESDA has recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation to put up more training mobile centers to benefit scholars in remote areas.
He said TESDA has more than 200 accredited technical providers as he hoped that more people will consider taking TESDA courses aside from the traditional education set in different schools.
“The greatest challenge we face is the stigma against the tech-voc sector. Most people think the only way to be successful is to have a bachelor’s degree,” Villanueva said.
TESDA has been collaborating with technical and vocational schools in the region and according to Villanueva, they have produced 200,000 graduates and more than 80,000 of them are now employed in different companies.
“There is also a career path in the tech-voc sector,” he added. (FREEMAN)