15 September 2012
Beyond the headlines, four young people told the most captivating and informative stories about technical vocational education and training (TVET) in the country through their blogs.
Selected winners in the first-ever blogging contest of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the four bloggers were awarded with cash prize and certificate from Secretary Joel Villanueva during the agency’s founding anniversary last month.
Irish Blanca Digamon Igcol emerged as the grand winner, Ronald Francisco Chan Delima took the most informative blog title, Rachelle Maniego Nessia had the most creative blog, and Darlene Anne Alcantara was the viewers’ choice winner.
The winners were chosen from a number of bloggers, who joined the contest that centered on the theme “Sa TESDA, May Choice Ka.”
Villanueva, TESDA Director General, said the blog contest aimed to draw attention to TVET and the agency’s efforts through the medium very popular among the youth, the internet.
“With every hit that the winning blogs generate, the word about TESDA and what we do are spread in a borderless medium. We congratulate our bloggers for coming up with the informative and creative pieces,” he said.
Igcol’s winning entry showed how intertwined education and employment were. While some manage to make both ends meet with their small business, it is important that a member of the family has a stable job.
However, Igcol argued that jobs do not come to the unschooled.
“Not everyone has the luxury of finishing a degree in a college or university. This is where TESDA comes in. . . . Through TESDA, Filipinos can become armed with the necessary skills, training and education for them to be equipped for the job they want to have,” she said.
A TESDA graduate, who seriously took his craft, should have no reason not to be confident about landing in a job he wants, Igcol added.
Delima’s blog was most fitting for his most informative award, peppering it with employment data to show the current situation of joblessness in the country.
Delima contended that the Filipinos are not doomed to be poor and are not lazy, only lacking in knowledge and opportunity. He also said that trying hard was not enough, especially for poor families.
“What we lack are knowledge and opportunity. . . . This was what TESDA gave us through its trainings. True to its mission, it has set the direction, policy and programs to make available quality technical education to boost the skills of the Filipinos,” he said.
The most creative blog written by Nessia delved on Leo Enriquez and Eugene Tero and their rags-to-riches story made possible by the training they received from TESDA, hard work and a bit of luck.
In her short piece, Nessia captured the most essential moments in the lives of the two graduates, telling her audience that Enriquez struggled through drug addiction before finding the opportunity to get into a skills training course on slaughtering through TESDA’s Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP).
Enriquez and Tero’s paths crossed during the training, and both saw it as the door to opportunity to hone their skills and find work abroad. Both now are settled in Australia with their families.
Alcantara enthused the readers with the narration of her family’s own experience of finding wealth, wantonly spending it, and rising anew with the training opportunity provided by TESDA.
“My sister-in-law needed dialysis, but we had no money. We didn’t even have money to buy milk for the baby,” she said.
The training on Food and Beverage Services, which Alcantara’s brother took, paved the way for a new hope for the family. Finding employment after the training, she said the family now has a source of income to pay for her sister-in-law’s medical expenses.
“Now, I know my brother is holding tight to the opportunity that came his way through TESDA,” Alcantara said.
MOST INFORMATIVE BLOG. Ronald Francisco Chan Delima receives from TESDA Secretary Joel Villanueva the cash prize for bagging the Most Informative Blog Award in the first-ever TESDA Blogging Contest.
TESDA GETS VIRAL WITH BLOGS. Secretary Joel Villanueva poses with Ronald Francisco Chan Delima (right), who topped the Most Informative Blog category in TESDA's Blogging Contest. Also in photo are deputy directors Irene Isaac and Atty. Teodoro Pascua.
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