TESDA to help Boholanos get back on their feet

CEBU, Philippines - Boholanos could expect assistance and support from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in terms of skills development trainings and emergency employment to jumpstart the recovery of Bohol after a 7.2-magnitude quake struck the province last Tuesday.

TESDA regional director Rosanna Urdaneta said that the government agency has come up with a program dubbed as Skills Training and Emergency Employment towards Recovery of Bohol (STEER Bohol) that shall provide calamity victims with trainings on carpentry, masonry, electrical installation, and plumbing.

“Even on the first day of quake, we have expressed our willingness and intervention to be of help in Bohol and Cebu. We expect to revive what is Bohol before from what is has been now after the calamity struck,” she stated.

STEER Bohol, she added, is a training cum production scheme that is designed to produce a pool of skills that will be tapped by the local government unit to pump up the rehabilitation of the province.

The program spearheaded by TESDA is in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) through its existing Emergency Employment program and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)  through its Cash-for-Work program.

Trainees of the STEER Bohol program will be given minimum wage by the two government agencies which are all aimed to provide a means of livelihood among the earthquake victims.

“The idea of STEER Bohol is while the trainees are working, they are earning. It is a training-and-building concept,” Urdaneta said.

The labor department recently announced that it shall conduct job fairs in quake-stricken areas in Bohol and Cebu particularly those where there could be a large concentration of displaced workers.

TESDA has identified four priority areas in Bohol to initiate the training program based on the magnitude damage and underprivileged condition according to the DSWD criteria. These pilot areas include Maribojoc, Loon, Calape and Sagbayan.

They expect to reach a target of 800 graduates for the three-week training programs in the first four identified areas. There shall be eight trainers for the whole program in which two instructors will be assigned per area.

“Trainees of the STEER Bohol shall undergo a short program ready to train them with the basic competencies without compromising the quality of the training,” Urdaneta said.

She cited that the STEER Bohol program shall kick off two weeks or a month after the relief operations. TESDA shall continue to conduct the skills training program until the entire province is covered.

They will also tap TESDA institutions in Bohol to provide mobile programs while the local government unit shall be tasked to identify the trainees and venue where the training could take place.

There are five TESDA training centers and one provincial office in Bohol. Two of which, located in Tubigon and Inabanga, were badly affected by the earthquake.

Urdaneta further asked for the help of the engineering pool of LGU-Bohol, which is similar to the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) in Cebu, to roam around to check on the temporary shelters and government offices the trainees could work on during the program.

She added that the Department of Tourism (DOT) , on the other hand, could also tap the graduates of STEER Bohol to help them work on the heritage churches that were devastated during the quake.

She shared that TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva plans the STEER Bohol program to be a convergence effort among various government agencies.

TESDA shall conduct the same community-based programs in selected areas in Cebu.

“We know that they need a lot of relief goods and stress debriefing programs. After which, we shall attend to their needs in terms of skills development and employment concerns to help them get back on their feet. TESDA assures the earthquake victims that we will be there,” Urdaneta concluded.

The agency also extended its help to the earthquake victims in Negros Oriental after a 6.9-magnitude quake happened last February 2012.It has allotted P5-million worth of scholarships in various courses for Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental.

TESDA is tasked to manage and supervise quality technical education and skills development in the Philippines with the vision of developing the Filipino workforce with world-class competence and positive work values. /JOB (FREEMAN)