TESDA offers aid, scholarships to Negros quake victims

11 February 2012

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is coming to the aid of earthquake victims in Negros Oriental offering the services of its specialists and opening up slots for scholarships in several courses.
 
TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva announced that the agency has allotted P5 million worth of scholarships for Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental, one of the badly-hit areas in the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the Negros and Cebu provinces Monday.
 
"We condole with the victims of the earthquake. We hope these scholarships will give them hope and encourage them to rise above this calamity," Villanueva said.
 
The TESDA chief also called on TESDA Specialistas to band together and offer their services in repair and rehabilitation efforts.
 
In Guihulngan City, at least two teams composed of experts in welding and metal fabrication services and home repair services were immediately dispatched to go to affected areas and provide services to those who need help. More groups will be organized if the need arises.
 
The scholarship slots available are for the following qualifications: Shielded Metal Arc Welding NC II (200); Carpentry (50); Masonry (50); Plumbing (25); HEO Payloader (25); HEO Backhoe (25); Commercial Cooking (50); and, Enterprise Information Management (50).
 
Villanueva also issued a TESDA advisory for the immediate inspection of TESDA schools and training centers in Central Visayas particularly those that are being used as evacuation centers.
 
The advisory also covered all private Technical and Vocational Institutes (TVIs) with registered programs with TESDA in Regions 6 and 7. There are 225 TVIs in Region 6 and 268 in Region 7.
 
"We have been experiencing very unusual and unexpected calamities lately. We used to worry only about earthquakes and their intensities but now, people have added fears because of the aftershocks and after-effects which are believed to be even more damaging than that of the initial earthquake itself. We should be able to respond effectively and fast,” Villanueva said.