MANILA, Philippines — The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) is offering free online courses that quarantined residents may avail of during the Luzon-wide lockdown being enforced to block the spread of the coronavirus disease.
According to Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, a total of 19,598 enrollees have signed up to learn from 68 online training courses in the platform.
Nograles said the top sectors being picked by the enrollees are Electrical and Electronics; Tourism; Entrepreneurship; Information and Communications Technology; and 21st Century.
“Libre po ito and after undergoing online activities and passing the quizzes, learners may download Certificates of Completion as proof that they finished the online course,” Nograles said in a virtual briefing.
Also, Tesda’s Regional/provincial training centers and other training institutions around the country have produced and donated a total of 57,000 face masks to COVID-19 frontliners such as health workers in the hospitals, barangay health centers, PNP/AFP checkpoints, LGUs, employees of government, members of the media, and barangay (village) tanods (watchmen).
Tesda training centers in partnership with the private sector have distributed 266 face shields to frontliners in Luzon, 809 in the Visayas, and 250 in Mindanao.
“Some Tesda regional offices are also starting to make protective suits, disinfectants, and sanitizers; while TTIs (Tesda Training Institutions) have been continuously baking bread and pastries and distributing them to our frontliners,” Nograles added.
The entire island of Luzon, home to about half of the country’s people, has been placed under a month-long lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Provincial and town executives from other parts of the country have also rolled out similar measures in their jurisdictions.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Philippines has 2,633 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 107 of whom have died while 51 managed to recover.