Tesda to expand contact tracing course to Calabarzon

MANILA, Philippines — The director of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) on Thursday said that the agency will expand the offer of its contact tracing course to residents living in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon).

During the Senate finance committee hearing tackling Tesda’s proposed budget for 2021, Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. asked Tesda director Isidro Lapeña how many batches of students have completed the course since it started on Sept. 4.

“Although we have just started with the contact tracing training, in September, and we have already finished a course and we are about to finish another one, this is a training program,” he said.

“So when we have more trainers, then it will be a multiplier training program,” he added.

“We have an ongoing training where we started with the National Capital Region, and it is intended for the whole country,” Lapeña then said.

“With the multiplier trainers training program, maybe in a week or two, there will be a training in Region 4-A, that will include Cavite,” he added.

Tesda previously announced that it will offer free training to those who want to be contact tracers.

The  15-day contact-tracing training program is conducted through blended learning consisting of online and offline learning.

Those who wish to avail must have at least 10 years complete education, or be a holder of an alternative learning system certificate of completion equivalent to Grade 10.

Under Tesda’s contact tracing program, there will be competencies—namely basic, core and complex competencies.

JE