1.6 million enrolled in Tesda courses since lockdown — Lapeña

MANILA, Philippines — Some 1.6 million people have enrolled in courses offered by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) since the beginning of quarantine, its chief said on Wednesday.

Tesda chief Isidro Lapeña said some 1.6 million students enrolled in their online programs since March 16, 2020, when enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was imposed due to COVID-19.

“In fact, during the start of the pandemic, in March 2020, Tesda came up with more online programs,” he said in a Kapihan sa Manila Bay online forum. “We now have a total of 1.6 million since March 16.”

“Naging popular masyado ito dahil imbis na walang ginagawa sa bahay, ito ngayon ang ginagawa nila, nag-aaral, nagte-training online,” he added.

(This became really popular because they now study and train online instead of being idle at home.)

Lapeña noted that among the 100 courses offered by the agency, most learners have taken courses about housekeeping, bread and pastry, cooking, and food processing.

While online options remain available, there are courses which are now allowed for face-to-face training under general community quarantine areas (GCQ) and modified GCQ areas, subject to 50 percent capacity limitation imposed by the Interagency Taskforce on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

“Now that we are under GCQ, we had an approval from IATF to start with training but only at 50 percent,” he said. “There are also requirements like getting a permit from the LGU (local government units).”

Among the courses allowed are construction and construction-related courses, electrical and electronics, garments and textiles, land transportation, and health.

IATF also allowed face-to-face competency assessments for sectors like automotive; electrical and electronics; furniture and fixtures; heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration; garments and textiles; construction; health, social and other community development services; information and communication technology; land transportation; language and culture; maritime; metals and engineering; visual arts; tourism, hotel and restaurant; technical vocational education and training; and wholesale and retail trading.

Latest available data said a total of 324,809 learners already completed their online courses as of December 31 2020, according to Tesda.

Those who are interested to register or view the list of available courses here.

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