Expecting clients to swarm on its training trabaho program, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) faces the challenge of creating and establishing more training centers—preferably with private partners.

TESDA Sec. Joel Villanueva said they have to be ready for the influx of enrollees in their skills training programs in the light of the full implementation of the Department of Education’s K-12 program and the ASEAN integration.

In Bohol, TESDA has training centers in the towns of Bilar, Jagna, and Tubigon, and the Asian Divine Light College in Tagbilaran City.

Even as of now, many those aspiring to avail of TESDA scholarships for intricate courses have to wait for the number of enrollees to fill up a class, which is the common scenario, unlike in cases of paying trainees who could proceed with the training anytime.

TESDA already had 8 million enrollees for the past five years, 7.2 million of them graduated and around 930,000 are TESDA scholars.

“How I wish na marami pa tayong scholarship programs, but at the same time, another challenge for us is to continue to create and establish more training centers–more private training centers,” according to Villanueva.

This is considering that about 800,000 new clients will come into the picture once the government will be fully implementing the K-12 program, “and then the ASEAN integration will come into the picture”, according to Villanueva.

“And then you have the pirating of our trainers and assessors by different companies, not only here but also abroad. Ang hirap tapatan ng mga offers na binibigay. So yan ang challenges and ang kagandahan naman po is the government has been sensitive to our TechVoc needs,” he added.

The budget right now, from P700 million for Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) now it’s P2.2 billion and for the entire TESDA training trabaho programs for this year is P3.2 billion, and by next year, TESDA is proposing for a P4-billion budget for the training trabaho programs.

Villanueva came to Bohol yesterday as guest speaker of the mass graduation ceremony of TESDA Training Trabaho Program held at the Bohol Cultural Center where 1,033 graduates all over the province received their certificates.

Villanueva also distributed STEP toolkits after the ceremony.

The activity is in coordination with the provincial government and the Association of Public/Private TechVoc Institutions in Bohol.

Villanueva said TechVoc graduates will have an opportunity to better life and get decent jobs.

A notable one is the 45-day training on computer science or on the skills in computer system servicing.

The trainees will undergo an assessment and if they pass, TESDA will give them a national certification.

Villanueva also explained that an aspirant for the training will also be assessed as to his qualification for the variety of programs where they can fit in.

For her part, TESDA-Bohol Provincial Director Francisca Opog explained that the TESDA scholarship program is under a one-availment policy. However, a beneficiary can proceed to the next level of the first training availed.

An example is somebody who availed of a training on food and beverage in tourism can proceed to a higher level training.

A graduate of a welding training can still avail of TESDA training to proceed to gas and metal welding training.