Our man at TESDA

What shocked me during my visit last week to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in Taguig City, was being told that one of the two elevators in  the building was reserved for the former head of the authority, only he,  nobody else, could use it.  What gall.

Well, things are different now at the authority under the administration of Secretary  Emmanuel Joel J.  Villanueva.  In fact, we found him wearing slippers, not to impress visitors,  but only because he was having temporary trouble with a foot.

Joel was a duly elected representative of the CIBAC party list in the 12th and 14th Congresses.

One remembers the young legislator (he was only 25 when he was elected to Congress in 2001) as filing, endorsing, and fighting for the impeachment of government officials as former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, and former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

His  significant legislative bills some of which were passed, included the Anti-Red Tape Act, the Freedom of Information Bill,  the procurement law, absentee voting, granting of additional benefits and privileges to senior citizens, the regulation of the packaging, use, sale, distribution and advertisements of tobacco products.

He decided not to run for a third term in Congress and went back to the family business, ZOE Broadcasting Network, Inc., as managing director, and host of “Adyenda,” a 30-minute presentation of various socio-political issues, a program that he still runs every Friday and Monday via QTV 11 and every Saturday through GMA7.

After he retired from Congress, President Noynoy, a good personal friend, and godfather of his two toddlers,  appointed him to the TESDA post, whose concerns are right along his alley. TESDA was created by Republic Act 7796, as the national authority in technical vocational education training. Its two-pronged objectives are massive employment generation and substantial poverty reduction.

Training programs are available for high school graduates in such areas as electronics, hair dressing, caring, fashion technology, mechatronics, refrigeration and air-conditioning, industrial automation, beauty therapy, food processing, carpentry, bartending and barista, bread and pastry, fruit carving, robotics, and industrial and organic farming. Training is free and takes from  one to six months. Applicants  have to  pass interviews to determine their skill potential and motivation to improve their lives.

Some of the training is done within the TESDA compound, and others are in the more than 51 TESDA-related centers around the country. In Taguig, carpentry students are manufacturing wooden desks and tables for use by the Department of Education, in collaboration with the DENR. The wood being used is made from confiscated logs hewn by illegal loggers, and washed away by huge floods.

Women empowerment is a must at TESDA. This is the target of  programs  for women being conducted at the TESDA  Women’s Center with the support of  the Japanese Embassy. When we visited the center, we saw one group doing food processing, another, welding automotive and construction material parts, and another, cutting and sewing dresses and pillow cases. As with the male trainees, the women are taught marketing skills, and helped to realize their dream of putting up a sari-sari store or some small business. Who knows, a small store can become a Rustan’s or PureGold someday.

In its 2012 year-end report, Secretary Villanueva said technical vocational education and training (TVET) programs are becoming more in demand among young people. ”College education is still popular among our youth, but TVET is offering them a new route to rewarding careers.”

He noted that TESDA, as of year-end, had a total of 19,991 registered programs.

TESDA has moved further in its definition of vocational education. It now offers in-demand courses in information and communication technology, as well as in tourism.  

Joel has a BS  in economics from the University of Santo Tomas (which recognized him as a most outstanding alumnus in 2012 for exemplary performance in the government),  and taken special studies in business administration at Harvard University  in Massachusetts. He is currently working on a masters in public administration  at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. For his performance , Polytechnic University of the Philippines conferred on him a doctor of humanities, honoris causa.

As if to show his interest in TVET, Joel  himself enrolled in, and finished the three-month Food and Beverage Services National Qualification Level  III. Because of his work load and the number of visitors dropping by his office, a bar and related paraphernalia were brought to the lobby of his building where he actually mixed drinks and learned the art of bartending. But he uses the same elevators  as the  employees and visitors.

TESDA is the first education agency to receive an ISO 9001:2008 certification from TUV SUD PSB, Germany’s leading multinational certification and inspection body which provides inspection, certification, valuation, validation training and testing services. All 51 TESDA training sites in eight regions are now ISO 9001:2008 certified.

Surveys made with methodologies approved by the National Statistical and Coordination Board show a 62 percent employment rate based on the 2012 Impact Evaluation Study (the highest in TESDA’s history), 70.9 percent employment rate in the IT-BPO sector, and 85 percent employment rate for the semi-conductor and electronics industry.

Still another reform introduced by Villaneuva is the Mobile Training plus (Park and Train) that brings tech-voc programs at the doorstep of every community. Training takes place inside vehicles containing appropriate tools and equipment, facilities, supplies and materials in more than 30  public and private places. Many of its graduates are now employed through the assistance of the local government units and the Public Employment Service Office. Deserving graduates are provided with starter toolkits under the TESDA Specialista Technopreneurship Program.

Other innovations are the Middle East Industrial Training Institute program that provides workers with the chance to achieve American Welding Society Standard certification in metals and engineering, and the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines and Peron Foundation, Inc., whose project “Tsuper Dunong” helps hone drivers’ driving skills and learn new  and related skills such as automotive servicing and diesel engine mechanic. Also, TESDA is also training inmates of the New Bilibid Prison and the Correctional Institute for women for jobs in  IT Essentials, computer hardware servicing, adobe photoshop, web design and English proficiency, and a finishing course for call center agents.

As Secretary Villanueva attests, “Sa TESDA, May Choice ka.” This is TESDA’s campaign mantra and it has worked perfectly well for the agency.

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My email:dominitorrevillas@gmail.com