TESDA renews commitment to improve PH TVET system

July 26, 2023

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has reiterated its commitment to continue upskill and reskill Filipinos for them to be adaptive to the changing demand of the industries.

Secretary Suharto T. Mangudadatu, who assumed the TESDA Director General post last June, said that the agency is implementing programs for upskilling and reskilling of Filipino workers, and strengthening the country’s technical vocational education and training (TVET) system as part of his 10-point Agenda for the agency.

TESDA shall prioritize the implementation of the TESDA sa Barangay, which is a massive skills training program for the communities at the local level, targeting the poor and the marginalized. It is purposely designed to catalyze the creation of livelihood enterprises that shall be implemented by the trainees, immediately after the training.

“We are modernizing our TVET system through the provision of upgraded, accessible, and labor market-responsive technical vocational training programs and skills certification standards. We are also setting up more training institutions, including innovation centers, that are central to the modernization of TVET systems,” Secretary Mangudadatu said.

“Further, we are closely involved in the continuous development and implementation of the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF) as well as the Philippine Skills Framework (PSF), both of which help enhance the value and comparability of Philippine education and training qualifications, and support the mobility of Filipino students and workers,” added the TESDA head.

In his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. mentioned the contributions of TESDA and TVET in implementing his administration’s programs to prepare more Filipinos for work.

“TVET continues to prove itself to be an empowering educational intervention. There are many examples of how its graduates have gone on to secure competitive technical jobs,” the President said in his SONA.

“Since last year, more than a million Filipinos graduated from TVET, one-third of whom were TESDA scholars,” added President Marcos Jr.

From July 2022 to May 2023, TESDA has tallied 1,135,783 TVET graduates in all training delivery modes – institution-based training, enterprise-based training, and community-based training.

One of these graduates is Isaiah Sadang, a 26-year-old Bicolano former out-of-school youth who took Shielded Metal Arc Welding NC I and II at the TESDA Women’s Center in Taguig from September to December 2022. With his family financially strapped, Sadang had previously decided to discontinue his studies to give the opportunity of education to his six younger siblings instead. Sadang shares that the TESDA scholarship program helped make his dreams come.

Likewise, Chef Roxanne Joy Magday-Ningala finished her Bread and Pastry Production NC II course at TESDA’s Provincial Training Center in Nueva Vizcaya in 2022. She is currently employed as a pastry chef and cake decorator at Baker's Fantasy in Male, Maldives, and had recently assisted some of the world’s most highly acclaimed Master Chefs. Magday-Ningala claims that TESDA’s certificates were of great help when she was looking for jobs abroad.

Meanwhile, President Marcos Jr. also mentioned various government programs to help poor Filipinos which includes one of TESDA’s strategic thrusts, “Social Equity for Workforce Inclusion and Poverty Reduction”. 

For the past year, TESDA has strengthened policy and program coordination and continues to intensify the implementation of existing quality-assured TVET delivery, assessment, and certification programs.

TESDA has also been establishing innovation centers which aim to upgrade TVET with technology research and entrepreneurship development towards the making of 4.0 ready graduates and also address the retooling and upskilling of workers affected by technology advancement. Currently, there are four innovation centers nationwide located in Isabela, Cebu, Northern Samar, and Zamboanga Sibugay.

Secretary Mangudadatu expressed his gratitude to TESDA employees for their continuous service to the Filipino people.

“Our President showed great appreciation and strong support for our organization and the work that we do. With this, let us focus more on meeting the President’s goals, especially towards the upskilling and reskilling of workers, improving the curriculum, and providing better services for our kababayans,” the TESDA chief said.