02 October 2014
In a new education partnership, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and Gawad Kalinga aim to tap the entrepreneurial spirit of the youth to make them productive and ready to manage their own business.
With the launch of the School for Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development (SEED), training programs will be made available to the young people that will make them partners in the development of their communities.
The program will run for two years with a curriculum developed by TESDA and Gawad Kalinga.
"There's an entrepreneur in every person, we just have to hone it and make it shine," TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva said.
Gawad Kalinga’s Tony Meloto, Villanueva and other high ranking government officials joined the launching.
The school will be housed at the Gawad Kalinga Farm in Angat, Bulacan.
Various courses will be offered to the students to help develop their entrepreneurial skills, such as Agri-Crop Production, Cookery, Agri-business and Tourism.
"This project inculcated in our hearts and minds a new way of doing things at TESDA. It served as an impetus for us to reflect and ask ourselves again: How can we provide enough elbowroom to personalize our training programs, to put young people in an environment where they can tap their hidden potentials, and to create conditions under which innovation and creativity will begin to flourish?" Villanueva said.
The TESDA chief thanked Gawad Kalinga for partnering with the agency for the major project.
"We know that practical and technical skills grow in value over book knowledge. SEED Philippines transforms education and training by helping the youth discover their individual talents and true passions," he said.
As part of the continuous curriculum development for SEED, Villanueva said that the agency is ready to fine-tune it so that students can earn and serve while they learn by linking them to business enterprises through the Dual Training System, and broaden their options through the Ladderized Education Program.
The launch of SEED was one of the highlights of Gawad Kalinga's Social Business Summit 2014 themed as "Economic Innovations for Inclusive Wealth Creation."
During the summit, TESDA together with other government offices also held skills demonstration and showcased the products of skills training graduates and the agency’s solar lighting system.
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