03 February 2013
Bent on bringing quality technical vocational education and training (TVET) to Filipinos, Secretary Joel Villanueva of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) ordered its administered schools and training centers to start beefing up their curriculum and teaching methods to produce skilled graduates who can eventually land in sustainable jobs.
Villanueva, TESDA Director General, also called for a more effective quality control in assessing graduates, who will be issued national certificates.
Villanueva issued the directives at the recently-concluded National Directorate Conference, where he outlined the agency’s accomplishments and thrusts for the year among the agency’s top officials in the central office and its field units.
"We will establish a system of acknowledging the accomplishments, innovations and improvements that the Technical Vocational Institutions (TVIs) and TESDA Technology Institutes (TTIs) have instituted beyond the minimum requirements, but we will let go of non-performing ones," he said in his speech.
A TESDA Executive Office has been tasked to look into the performance of the TVIs and TTIs to see if they are producing "technically competent, innovative and creative Filipino workers."
"But we will also let go of programs, which are not bearing fruits based on the results of the study. I hope that our decision will be acceptable," he said.
Currently, there are close to 4,500 TVET institutions nationwide with more than 20,000 programs in different qualifications that are registered with TESDA. This includes the 125 schools and training centers that are administered by the agency.
Villaneva stressed the need to strengthen the system of assessment and certification of TVET graduates.
"We will expand the capability of our assessors and assessment centers and study alternative options for quality control in assessment. We will also streamline our competency assessment and certification system," he said.
The TESDA chief announced that a review of Training Regulations is underway, aimed at producing training standards that are more "user-friendly" and "beneficial to users in all modes of training delivery, without sacrificing the need for life skills and analytical skills."
"We will refine our concepts, definitions and guidelines for the various modes of program delivery so we can effectively expand our reach. We will innovate and expand our partnership with enterprises," he added.
Focus will be directed to TESDA's community-based programs, dual training system and mobile training programs, which have an effective grasp of target beneficiaries, especially in poor communities.
According to Villanueva, the agency will also revitalize its Career Guidance Program and will simplify its career profiling procedures.
He said that big steps still have to be taken to close the gap between the market demand and the skill set of the present graduates.
He cited the January 23, 2013 data of PHIL-JobNet, an internet-based job and applicant matching system under the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), which showed a total number of applicants of 117,880, and 132,759 job vacancies.
"Obviously, there are more vacancies than applicants," he lamented.
Villanueva said that TESDA should be steps ahead in innovating programs, enhancing its training programs and responding to the market needs to stay relevant.
"The employment of our graduates is a helpful validation of our relevance. There couldn't be a better measure than that. If we have a little relevance, we won’t have a lasting impact," he said.
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