By Jade D. Miguel
MANILA, July 3 (PNA) — The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has signed a deal with three partner industry associations to provide P17.48 million worth of scholarship vouchers for a total of 2,110 scholars that will be sourced from its Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP).
The said number of scholars who will benefit from the signed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) Thursday covers the existing and future skilled workers.
TESDA will allocate P8.130 million for the Makati Development Corporation (MDC); P5.450 million for the Philippine Society of Plumbing Engineers (PSPE) Inc.; and P3.9 million for the Philippine Society of Ventilating, Air-Conditioning and Refrigerating Engineers (PSVARE) Inc.
The said private industries are poised to train existing workers for re-employment and re-tool incoming workers in their respective fields such as construction, plumbing and air-conditioning, ventilation and refrigeration industry.
“The support for skills development of our partner industries will be used to upgrade the quality of the workforce,” TESDA Secretary Joel Villanueva said adding that the trainings are aligned with the market demands and standards so that graduates of TWSP will be “gainfully employed and more productive”.
Addressing the job vacancies that require specific skills, the TESDA chief sees the great potential of its partnership with the private sector.
“We will continue to work with high-growth sectors to develop training programs to help entry-level workers and existing workers advance their ranks,” Villanueva said.
PSPE national president Engr. Jason Magos said that the trainees get the privilege to be employed right after their training.
“In our industry, we train them. After training, we employ them,” Magos said.
PSPE will be training 650 scholars for Plumbing NC II and NC III.
Meanwhile, PSVARE has 400 scholars who can take up Airduct Servicing NC II, RAC Servicing NC II and Transport RAC Servicing NC II.
“It is our society’s mission to promote innovation and good practice of our HVAC [heating, ventilation and airconditioning] systems as we strive to improve productivity in our various construction projects be they government or private-related and hope we can continuously generate jobs and at the same time, ensuring professionalism among our workforce and help our nation further improve our economic growth,” PSVARE president Engr. Jim Bata explained.
MDC president Dante Abando further shared that their organization’s “combined expertise would be able to break new grounds and provide programs and standards that contribute to the technical and skills development for the construction of industry workforce.”
With a total of 1,060 out of 2,110 scholars, MDC will be having the most number of trainees who may wish to undergo the following courses: Carpentry NC II, Shielded Metal Arc Welding NC II, Masonry NC I, Reinforcing Steel Works NC II, Electrical Installation and Maintenance NC II, Heavy Equipment Operation (Transit Mixer) NC II, Scaffold Erection NC II, and Training Methodology I.
The series of training will start from July until December 2014. (PNA)