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Almost 2K Kalingas get TESDA community-based skills training

By Liza Agoot and Jesse Maguiya

June 7, 2019, 4:37 pm

<p>The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority provides different skills training to the marginalized sector like the 1,987 scholarship grantees in Kalinga. The provincial office says there are still over 2,000 slots that Kalingas can avail of this year. <em>(File photo by Liza T. Agoot/PNA)</em></p>

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority provides different skills training to the marginalized sector like the 1,987 scholarship grantees in Kalinga. The provincial office says there are still over 2,000 slots that Kalingas can avail of this year. (File photo by Liza T. Agoot/PNA)

TABUK CITY, Kalinga-- A total of 1,987 Kalingas have received community-based skills training under the scholarship program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), an official said on Friday.

“We are targeting 4,324 beneficiaries for community-based training for the whole year of 2019 and there are still 2,337 available scholarships in Kalinga,” said Gabriel Gayacay, provincial director of TESD Kalinga provincial office.

The skills training for the Kalingas included basic training on manicure and pedicure, basic hair cutting, electrical wiring installation, light, and outlet installation, furniture finishing, basic tile setting, bread and pastry production II, bread making, concrete hollow blocks making and sustainable organic agriculture farming.

The other skills availed of by Kalinga scholars were electrical installation and maintenance NC (National Certification) II, basic body massage, draft and cut pattern of casual apparel, fabricate install and remove wooden form works and basketry and bag making.

Other skills training that can be availed of is bread and pastry production NC II that includes bread making, cake making, pastry making, petit fours; hollow blocks making and plastering; bag making and apron making, which are all community-based training.

Of the 1,987 beneficiaries, a total of 241 underwent the Community-based training (CBT) in January, 247 in February, 434 in March, 645 in April and 420 in May.

Gayagay said the scholarship grants of TESDA are in-line with the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to improve the lives of the marginalized sector, especially the IP communities.

"This is our way to help empower and uplift the lives of those in the marginalized sector, especially the IP community," he said.

The TESDA and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) have forged a partnership to empower the IPs through skills training, among others.

In May this year, the Regional Training Center based at the regional office of TESDA located in Loakan, Baguio city announced that there are still 1,549 scholarship slots for technical-vocational courses that can be availed of until September this year.

The scholarship is open to students who are at least 18 years old who finished high school.

The regional training center was allotted 1,900 scholarship slots for the entire year. And as of the end of April, there were only 351 slots used, leaving several more for interested educational grantees of the government.

Gayagay said the program is in response to the clamor of the industry to address the critical skills shortages in priority sectors, particularly the business process outsourcing, metals and engineering, construction and tourism, among others.

In a recent interview, Acting TESDA Regional director Manuel Wong said they have also forged a partnership with foreign company MOOG Controls, a manufacturer of aerospace equipment based at the Baguio Economic Zone for the in-company training of workers. (PNA)

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