05 May 2011
At least 300 of Quezon City’s youth who have dropped out of formal education will have the opportunity to be back in school anew through the joint project of the city government and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Infusing a P3-million fund, the QC government teamed up with TESDA to provide the free training in various fields with the help of its partner service providers.
In a memorandum of agreement, TESDA and the QC government agreed to undertake the project together to tap the out-of-school youth and unemployed adults for skills training and make them productive workforce of the country.
TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva and QC Mayor Herbert Bautista signed the deal.
“We hope to rouse our youth from idleness into productivity. TESDA’s way is to offer them free training to allow them to discover their strengths and skills that they could use to find employment someday,” Villanueva said.
In most cases, Villanueva said that dropping out of school was not the choice of the students, but a condition forced on them because of poverty.
“We want to make them feel there’s a second chance. We don’t want our youth to give up on education because that would mean giving up on their family and their country,” the TESDA chief added.
Under the agreement, the QC government will transfer an initial amount of P3 million to TESDA that will be distributed to six of its partner technical and vocational institutions (TVIs) namely: Korea Philippines IT Training Center (for IT related programs); Royal International Training Zone (for slaughtering operations); I Learn Training Center (for tourism and health); Reyes International School of Cosmetology (for beauty care); Mechatronics Technologies Corporation (for mechatronics servicing); and St. Paul University Quezon City, Inc. (for tourism and health).
The local government will be in charge of identifying the beneficiaries of the training program. It will tap barangay officials in the selection and recruitment of the trainees and assist in ensuring their regular attendance, obedience to house rules, and completing of the training.
Local officials will also assist TESDA in evaluating the training output and process to continuously improve it.
TESDA will also help ensure that competent trainers and resource persons are present and that instruction tools, material and methods are available to the trainees.
At the end of the program, TESDA will assist in evaluating the employability of the graduates.
Villanueva hailed the QC government for allocating a portion of its money for the free education of out-of-school youth.
“Education is always a worthy investment. At the end of the day, there is always a tenfold return for the scholars’ families and for the country,” he said.
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