DOT awards 20 scholarship grants to vocational students

Having been declared as a tourism super region, world class hotels, resorts, food service industries are at a booming pace in Central Visayas and to sustain this business trend, a technical vocational school is looking at providing the industry with a steady source of qualified skilled workforce.

The Banilad Center for Professional Development (BCPD) has been aiming to provide socio-economic growth that would benefit the poor sector of society through generating entrepreneurial and employment opportunities to its students.

Recently, the vocational school received 20 scholarship grants from the Department of Tourism’s Grassroots Entrepreneurship and Employment for Tourism (GREET) and Turismo Mismo programs.

The scholarships entitle 20 women high school graduates from Cebu and the neighboring islands with ages ranging from 17 to 23 to receive full subsidy of their two years of training in BCPD for its competencies under hotel and food service industry trainings.

DOT’s GREET program seeks to enhance livelihood opportunities amongst micro entrepreneurs in the tourism industry while at the same time advocating environmentally sustainable and socially equitable practices within our local communities and particularly in ecotourism sites.

No less than Secretary Joseph Ace Durano awarded the certificates of entitlement to the beneficiaries of the financial grants in a ceremony held in BCPD.

Previously, Durano also awarded several grants to Donsol in Bicol as well as in Bohol and Butuan which sparked up more tourism activities in these areas.

He said that it was the first time that they awarded grants for a training institution as previous grants were focused on providing funding for infrastructure support that is aimed at enhancing the tourism activities in an area.

Durano said that BCPD has elicited good industry track record as it has the highest employment rate for a training program which reflected its strong industry partnerships.

In an interview with Banilad Center for Professional Development director Mary Anne L. Ruiz, she said that the boom in Cebu’s tourism industry has helped provide employment to their graduates who had studied under scholarships.

She said that throughout these years, they have already established strong linkages with the industry sector such as world-class hotels and resorts in the province as well as restaurants where they send their students for on-the-job trainings.

It was in 1992 that BCPD was established with initial funding from foreign sources with the aim of creating an institution that will be able to alleviate the situation of marginalized sectors within the immediate locality.

When the institution started, they offered short courses to women and the youth within surrounding barangays such as cooking lessons and work values.

It was just in 1998 that “dualized” training programs have been offered by the institution after having noted the boom in the city’s food and hospitality industries.

They saw the huge demand for manpower in these areas and now they offer six courses called competencies and qualifications under their hotel and food service industries trainings that include: commercial cooking, housekeeping, food and beverage service, baking and pastry production and bartending.