Villanueva aims for hi-tech TESDA



Want to get into technical-vocational study but can't go to a classroom? Need an updated listing of job openings in the country and abroad? Eyeing to start a business and want to know where skilled workers are?

All these and more may soon be found in just one website that students, employers, businessmen, trainers and even government workers can go to -- Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

"We should always be reminded that TESDA should be technical. TESDA should be the number one techie government agency," Secretary Joel Villanueva, Director General of the agency, said.

He said that efforts to enhance the TESDA Online Program (TOP) should be bolstered, stressing that "the trend and future direction of learning is online."

The agency has partnerships with big names in the information technology industry such as Google, GSM, and Autodesk to help it enhance the use of technology in the delivery of training to the youth and to make its own systems efficient.

"I hope that these partnerships give us enough motivation to pursue the use of technology in our work," he said.

The TESDA chief pitched for the agency to spearhead a technology research development program that will propagate a culture of research among technical vocational institutions (TVIs).

"I encourage our regional directors to identify TVIs that need support in technology research. Let's nurture them, extract insights, and replicate best practices," he said.

"Let's do more: let's get into better data and information management. Let's make it more transactional especially to our clients. We want employers and investors who want to set-up a business in the country to efficiently locate the availability of skilled workers by type of skills, sector, and geographical location," he said.

He said businessmen, for example, eyeing to invest in a hotel business in Cebu should be able to check online the availability of skilled workers such as bartenders, chefs, baristas, tour guides and the like.

He called on the private sector to partner with the agency in the development of the TESDA Information System Strategic Plan (ISSP).

"We've proven that public-private partnerships (PPP) in techvoc will never run out of style. Let's start by quantifying these partnerships," he said.

Villanueva said he would also continue to beat the drum to build public support for the TOP.

Recent data from Google Analytics showed that page views for http://www.e-tesda.gov.ph reached 5,117,681 since it went online in May 2012 up to January 15, 2014.

The website has 499,533 unique visitors, according to the data. To date, TOP has recorded a total of 25,631 students enrolled in various courses.

A post by one user of the online program http://www.jbsolis.com/2014/02/free-study-online-with-tesda-anywhere.html recently went viral, generating close to 12,000 Facebook likes and 11,000 shares.

The post which said "Free Study Online with TESDA Anywhere You Are" also gathered numerous comments and inquiries from users interested in availing the courses.

It featured video culled from the TESDA website and various information about the available courses, and contact details of the agency. 

Villanueva said that the online program made tech-voc courses within reach of the Filipinos wherever they are.

"The intention is noble: to prove that the stigma that assigned a second-rate status to techvoc is no longer there. We want more Filipino youth choose tech-voc, access jobs, declare 'Ako’y TATAK TESDA', inspire others that techvoc is the way to go," he said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more