15 September 2013
Top executives of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) are this time undergoing skills training to help them better sell the agency's programs and services.
A training program tailor-made for the top officials aimed to help them communicate their message effectively with the media and ultimately with their target clients.
The first batch of communications training, held from September 3 to 6 in Cebu City, gathered regional and provincial directors and information officers of TESDA offices in the Visayas and Mindanao.
"We should not only be good in developing and implementing out of the box programs, we should also be able to effectively sell them to our target clients and stakeholders with the help of the media," Secretary Joel Villanueva, TESDA director general, said.
The importance of effective communication skills cannot be over emphasized, according to Villanueva.
He said communication skills and the ability to influence and shape decisions inside and outside environment are among the factors contributing to job success.
"For technical vocational or tech-voc courses in particular, we have to inform our public about its advantages and benefits so that our youth and their parents will be properly guided and make it an option for career advancement. Skilled workers are very much in demand and they are paid well," he added. The training focused on communicating with the media, and delved on topics such as Press Releases/Statements, Creating Public Relations Campaign, Power and the Role of the Media, How Organizations Work with Media and Statements for Broadcast, Facing the Media, and Speeches and Presentations.
"There's a need to understand the intricacies of media reporting, what they need, and how to suit our communication plans with them. We may have a wealth of information at our hand, but the extra challenge is how to present it creatively and something palatable to the media and our target audiences," Villanueva said.
Through the years, TESDA has distinguished itself as an entity that touches the lives of Filipinos, particularly the youth and unemployed, by providing them skills for employability. As the number of jobless Filipinos increase, the spotlight has been trained at the agency to see how it is helping address the problem by providing quality and relevant technical-vocational education and training (TVET) that will produce graduates that can have gainful employment.
TESDA has also come at the center of the education system with the implementation of the K to 12 program, which integrates TVET into the formal basic education curriculum.
TESDA has also implemented innovative programs such as online education, mobile training and community-based trainings.
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