OVER 15,000 scholarship slots are offered by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) Central Visayas this year.
This was announced by Tesda Director General Joel Villanueva during his visit to the University of Cebu-Lapu-Lapu Mandaue (UCLM) campus last Thursday.
Courses being offered are bread and pastry production, electronics servicing, shielded metal arc welding, electrical installation, maintenance, automotive servicing, slaughtering, tourism, among others.
“Our budget is increasing every year. The president (Benigno Aquino III) has been very supportive of Tesda,” Villanueva said.
Tesda offers Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) and the Private Education Student Financial Assistance (PESFA).
The secretary disclosed that the president has increased the budget to P3.2 billion for TWSP, around P70 million for PESFA and P2 billion for community-based programs, Special Training for Employment Program (STEP).
Asked about the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Integration, Villanueva said the country is way higher in terms of skills development, particularly in the tourism and construction sector.
“I am confident to say that we are in an advantageous position in our tourism and construction sector. Our skills development will suffice the need of our region,” he said.
The country has 212,000 graduates of tech-voc courses and 80,520 of them are employed here and abroad.
“One of the challenges we are facing today is the stigma on the tech-voc sector. There is a career path in this industry, not just by having a college degree,” he explained. “May choice po sila, mas mataas ang employment rate basta Tesda scholar.”