07 August 2014
Efforts are underway to give the country's garment industry the needed push through a trained workforce.
The Memorandum of Agreement signed on Thursday, August 7 between the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Garments Business Association of the Philippines (GBAP) will be in place to ensure the presence of a pool of qualified, globally competitive and job-ready workforce for the industry.
TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva said that P15 million pesos will be drawn from TESDA's Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) to be used to upgrade the skills of existing workers in the garment industry and for pre-employment training and retooling of incoming workers.
"A trained workforce is critical for improving productivity and efficiency in the industry, and these are needed to grow and survive in the competitive international market," Villanueva said.
"We have not been able to fully exploit the promising growth prospects in the garment industry, which could make wonders if we will invest in the development of human resources," he said.
Under the agreement, GBAP will engage its member-companies so that the individuals aspiring to work in the garments industry could have access to training opportunities, enhance their skills and become productive members of society. All training programs that would be provided should comply with the training standards set by TESDA as contained in its training regulations.
GBAP committed to achieve an employment rate of at least 70 percent of the graduates within six months to one year from the scholar's completion of the training program.
In addition, GBAP also pledged to establish and maintain a Training Development Fund which will be used for future training of existing workers and pre-employment and re-tooling of incoming workers in the industry.
The agreement was signed by Villanueva for TESDA and Margarita dela Rama, GBAP president. This is one of the series of MOAs signed by TESDA in its effort to expand partnership with industry to help reduce job-skills mismatch in the country.
A P15-million agreement has been inked between the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Garments Business Association of the Philippines (GBAP) for training of potential and existing workers in the industry.
TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva (fourth from left) and GBAP president Margarita dela Rama (third from left) led the signing ceremony on August 7.
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