Tesda head says K+12 program won’t affect agency

THE K plus 12 education system won’t affect the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) despite the incorporation of technical vocational courses in the new system.

Tesda Secretary General Joey Villanueva said that this is because Tesda will still be the authority to give competency certificates to Tesda students.

Employers, especially overseas, require submission of these certificates as proof of their competence in certain fields.

The new Department of Education (DepEd) program is like  “subtracting two years of college” instead of adding two high school levels, said Villanueva, who was in Cebu on Friday for the launching of Tesda’s Mobile bus program at the University of Cebu Maritime Educational Training Center (UC-METC) in barangay Mambaling, Cebu City.

He said the DepEd program would equip students for work especially those who couldn’t proceed to take a bachelor’s degree course.

He also said that K plus 12 wasn’t competing with Tesda or any bachelor’s degree because it would only strengthen the technical and vocational skills of students.

He also said that Tesda wasn’t competing with colleges offering college degrees because the agency was only giving “available options for people in their possible career paths.”

When asked about his political plans, Villanueva said: “I am preoccupied with so many projects and programs.”

He said he is too busy going around the country to implement TESDA programs for him to think about the possibility of running for 2013 midterms elections.

Villanueva is one of the emerging names of possible senatorial slate under Liberal Party (LP).

TV reports said President Aquino indirectly “campaigned”  for Villanueva in one of his provincial trips.

LP has yet to release its list of possible senatorial candidates.

Villanueva, however, clarified he is still with Citizens Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) partylist.

“For the record, I am still the chairman of CIBAC,”  said Villanueva, who was in Cebu to meet with local Cibac leaders./Correspondent Jessa Chrisna Marie J. Agua