CERTIFIED SKILLED. A student does some hands-on demonstration for certification later by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) either to get employment or start a business. TESDA has so far certified about 2,000 overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) abroad for certain technical-vocational skills, including cookery. (File Photo)
MANILA -- More than 2,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Asia and the Middle East have benefited from the onsite assessment program (OAP) of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority's (TESDA) since its launch in 2014.
Based on TESDA's records, the beneficiaries of the OAP have reached 2,475 from 2014 up to the second quarter of 2018. Close to 2,000 of them were given a national certificate (NC) or certificate of competency (COC).
The OAP aims to enable OFWs to retain and improve their livelihood, whether as employees or as entrepreneurs, through TESDA certifications.
TESDA conducts onsite assessments in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, and Riyadh.
The agency may have the OAP in other countries in the future, depending on the request of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, TESDA Certification Office Executive Director Maria Susan Dela Rama, told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Monday.
"The OAP is also planned for Malaysia, Qatar and Jordan," she disclosed.
TESDA figures showed that Singapore had the most number of applicants for the onsite assessment.
OAP was first conducted in Singapore in 2015, and there were 114 who had applied.
This year, 419 applied for the OAP in Singapore, which was held last September, according to TESDA.
Of the 419 applicants, 326 got either an NC or COC in Cookery, Health Care Services, Caregiving, and Bread and Pastry Production.
All of the applicants are women, and most of them are household workers.
About 40 percent of those who applied for OAP have reached college. Only 20 percent are college graduates.
he other 40 percent are either high school graduates or tech-voc graduates.
TESDA officials take the increasing number of OAP applicants in Singapore as a welcome development — a sign that TESDA's certification is being recognized by overseas employers, they said. (PNA)
