Tesda told: Focus on higher nat’l certificates, devolve tech-voc schools

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority chief Jose Francisco Benitez. — Photo from kikobenitez.com

Manila, PHILIPPINES — The Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2) urged the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) to ramp up higher-level skills training and devolve more of its programs to local governments.

In a report released on Friday, Edcom 2 co-chair Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo called on Tesda Director General Jose “Kiko” Benitez to focus agency efforts toward high-yielding certification programs.

“Maybe Secretary Kiko, it’s about time to put a halt to all these various programs that you have, and focus really on the really high-yielding NCs,” Romulo said in the report, referring to national certificates. “Maybe that would be a good legacy for your time at Tesda.”

A study presented by Ateneo-Edcom 2 fellow Christopher Chua found that compared to over 13,000 NC II certifications, there are only 26 top-level NC IV programs offered across technical vocational institutions (TVIs) in accordance with the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF).

The PQF was institutionalized into law in 2018 to establish national standards and levels of qualifications to support academic worker mobility and address job mismatch.

Tesda does offer NC V programs, but its officials noted that these lack assessment mechanisms. Level V programs are designed to equip learners with specialized skills and independent decision-making capabilities. These cover knowledge and skills that provide individuals with “breadth, depth and complexity” in their tasks.

“Like the Cookery [program], what does that get on level V — the chef title already? That’s where we should be headed [to the higher level NCs],” Romulo said. “Because the individual’s time is really wasted,” he added.

READ: New Tesda chief promises to drive innovation to upskill workforce

In the report, Edcom 2 Executive Director Karol Yee questioned the quality of Tesda’s so-called diploma programs. Tesda lists over 700 diploma programs nationwide, but Yee said in the report that many of them lack uniform standards and quality assurance.

Tesda Deputy Director General Rosanna Urdaneta said in the report the diploma program model was piloted from 2016 and 2019, allowing TVIs to develop their own programs. Monitoring is still ongoing, she said.

Under Republic Act No. 7796, Tesda is mandated to deliver quality technical-vocational education and training (TVET) aligned with national development goals. It offers programs such as agriculture, automotive transport, tourism, information and communications technology, among others.

In a separate report released Saturday, Edcom 2 also urged Tesda to devolve more of its operations to local government units (LGUs).

“The devolution of Tesda’s training functions to local government—this, I’ll admit, we haven’t done. We had devolved certain institutions, we have LGU-led [training], but they are very spotty, not systematic. Much of this is dependent on the interest and sustained efforts of the local government itself,” Benitez said in the report.

The report cited a 2005 plan for the devolution of TVIs within eight years, but only five institutions were transferred to LGUs, of which only one survives.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who co-chairs Edcom 2 with Romulo, said that Tesda must devolve its operations to the LGUs as he said that almost half of Tesda’s annual budget is allocated to this effort.

“The point of the matter is to stay true to the spirit of the law, which is to devolve, and 40 percent of your budget goes to running those TVIs …What we’re calling for is to stay true to the law: which is to devolve it,” Gatchalian was quoted as saying in the report.

READ: Senator pushes Tesda on tech-voc readiness

Benitez said his agency will release an order in the next month and a half. “Much of this will require LGUs to create ordinances and plantilla positions specific to technical-vocational education and training,” Benitez said.

Edcom 2 is conducting a national review of the country’s education sector this July. The review is part of its mandate to assess the performance of Tesda and other educational agencies. /das