TESDA Director General, Secretary Guiling “Gene” A. Mamondiong, distributed certificates and tool kits to the first batch of inmates and their family members who had finished their training and successfully completed their assessment on Wednesday, January 18, at the Makati City Jail.
 
The activity was part of the formal nationwide launch of TESDA’s “Integration Through Skills Development Project for Inmates and Families".  The same Project will also provide free skills and trainors training for the staff members of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).
 
Apart from Mamondiong, others who attended the launch were TESD Operation Deputy Director General Alvin Feliciano, BJMP Chief J/Director Serafin Barretto Jr., Makati City Jail Warden Supt. Esmeralda Azucena, and other officials from both agencies.
 
A total of 140 inmates at the Makati City Jail have enlisted for the TESDA skills program of which 20 had already received their National Certificates (NC II) after passing their required skills assessment.  Courses offered by TESDA for the Project’s implementation in Makati are Bread and Pastry Production NC II, Barista NC II, Electrical Installation and Maintenance NC II, and HEO-Forklift Operation for male inmates, while Cookery NC II, Beauty Care NC II, Hilot NC II and Hairdressing NC II are available for female inmates.
 
Similar training will be conducted nationwide as TESDA coordinates with the different jails and determines the most appropriate skills programs to implement.
 
The Project is the result of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between TESDA and BJMP signed last December 6, 2016, and aims to provide interventions through skills development by training inmates for self or wage-employment to uplift their economic status and facilitate reintegration to their respective communities.