TESDA launches employable skills training for CL youths

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines — The Cash for Training (C4TP) program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has finally reached out to 4,695 underprivileged youths in Central Luzon who will be trained for free in immediately employable skills.

TESDA said a total of P93.9 million has been allocated for the program in the region.

“TESDA will mobilize its own technology institutes and partner technical vocational schools to bring skills training to a total of 1,022 out-of-school and underprivileged youths from various towns in Pampanga,” TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva said during the provincial launching of the project at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center here last Monday.

The DSWD has shelled out P20.44 million for the project in Pampanga alone, he said during the launching attended by Gov. Lilia Pineda and other local officials.

TESDA said that aside from Pampanga, Aurora province will get P6 million for 300 beneficiaries; Bataan will get P6 million for 330 beneficiaries; Bulacan, P19 million for 950 individuals; Nueva Ecija, P22.8 million for 1,140 individuals; Tarlac, P11.96 million for 598 individuals; and, Zambales, P7.1 million for 355 individuals.

“We are giving training opportunities to our youth to enable them to get employed either as wage earners or as self-employed individuals. Employability is the end goal of every training course of TESDA,” he said.

Villanueva said it would be crucial for the beneficiaries who would finish the course “to undergo assessment to check if he or she possesses the required skills.”

“TESDA awards a National Certificate (NC) or Certificate of Competency (CoC) to all passers of the assessment. The NC or CoC is a guarantee that the graduates are qualified to be employed,” he stressed.

 He stressed that C4TP is “designed to offer beneficiaries two tracks to choose from: one is for wage employment, and the other is for self-employment.”

“Those who choose to be self employed and create their own business after graduation will receive a tool kit to help them start up. This is in addition to the free training, free assessment and training allowance that are given to them while on training,” he added.

Villanueva noted that many Kapampangans are known to possess natural talents in various skills. “Amid this backdrop, skills training sound very apt. We want to tap people who are good with their hands, very mechanical and good problem solvers, they can look at something and produce things out of it,” Villanueva said.