Pangasinan town brings in Tesda to give jobs to high school grads

This town has found a way to equip its high school graduates with skills that could land them jobs after graduation by including technical-vocational training in the secondary school curriculum.

The graduates will get diplomas from the Department of Education (DepEd) and certificates from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), Mayor Marcelo Navarro Jr. said.

The project, Navarro said, would give opportunity to students, who might not be able to pursue higher education, to seek employment after finishing high school.

“There are plenty of time wasted in teaching Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE), but with Tesda in the picture, we can marry the two (TLE and technical-vocational courses) and enable students to be trained for employment after high school,” he said.

Manuel Wong, Tesda provincial director, said students passing the accreditation tests would be given Tesda certificates that they could use in seeking jobs here and abroad. “Tesda certificates are recognized worldwide,” he said.

Under the project, selected third-year high school students would undergo intensive training on technical-vocational courses until their senior year when they would have completed the recommended number of hours for their courses.

Students have to undergo TLE lessons for an hour every day, but this time will be used instead for the technical and vocational training of Tesda starting school year

2012-2013, said Joseph Lopez, DepEd supervisor in charge of technology and livelihood.

Last week, Bani, Tesda and the DepEd signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to implement the project in June. Among the courses to be offered are baking and pastry production, plumbing, and food and beverage handling.

The program will be implemented initially at Bani National High School, Ranom Iloco National High School and Dacap Norte High School. Each school will have 100 preselected students that will take up the Tesda courses.

“Students are selected depending on their interests and aptitude,” Lopez said.

Tesda started training TLE teachers to handle these courses.

“Bani is the first to implement Tesda courses in high school, and we hope to replicate this program in other towns,” Wong said.

In Nueva Ecija, the National Irrigation Administration-Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System (NIA-UPRIIS) took slots for the government’s employment program to help the poor pursue their studies through summer jobs.

Jose Ariel Domingo, manager of the NIA-UPRIIS Division III, said at least 12 students from farming families in the province started working under the agency to complement the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Special Program for the Employment of Students.

Under the MOA, 60 percent of the students’ salaries will be shouldered by the NIA, while the rest will be covered by the DOLE.

The students from farming families are part of the 1,362 students enrolled on the program from the province. The DOLE has set aside P3.7 million as counterpart fund for the students’ salaries for Nueva Ecija, said Pedro Fernando, the department’s provincial director.

Some 8,000 students in Central Luzon stand to benefit from the program, said Raymundo Agravante, labor regional director. Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon