Pinoy TVET

As countries that used to rely on expatriates for their technical manpower needs begin to nationalize their labor force, some of them are strengthening their partnerships with the Philippines along training of their trainers.  Recently, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) reported that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has trained 338 of its TVET trainers through its partnership with the government.  This year, according to the report, 10 more Saudi nationals will be trained (via the MFI Foundation, Inc., formerly the Meralco Foundation) to conduct training in qualifications such as automotive servicing, electronic ignition system, electronic fuel injection, troubleshooting automotive engine systems and automatic transmission systems.  Previously, trainers in qualifications such as food processing, multi-media, computer networks, video production, photography, refrigeration and air-conditioning repair were trained under the program. ("Saudi Tech-Voc Experts

TESDA Director General Sec. Joel Villanueva recently announced during a forum with technical-vocational institutions that his agency is now working with the Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education to "harmonize" basic education and tertiary courses with technical-vocational education and training (TVET). ( Philippine Information Agency , September 20, 2011) The primary reason for this seems to be to enable graduates or even dropouts of basic education (mainly, high school) and bachelor courses to get employable skills (provided by TVET) even if they move out of the system before they finish schooling.  In this arrangement, TVET is inserted in basic and higher education as a sort of parachute that the student can open in case he needs to jettison out his course for one reason or another. Philippine education cohort estimates indicate that for every 100 pupils who enroll in elementary, only 66 graduate and of this 66, only 58 are able to enroll in high sch

Technical Education and Skills Development (TESDA) Director-General Sec. Joel Villanueva recently encouraged private institutions to help improve the quality of TVET education in the Philippines by helping police their own ranks to ensure that only qualified institutions which could help in the development of technical education and skills development are in the playing field.  ( Philippine Information Agency , September 20, 2011) This is a bold statement and is an indication of a bold--and needed--direction for technical education and skills development of the country. Actually, the development of self-regulating TVET bodies, including that of TVET institutions, has been one of the goals TESDA has been aiming for for sometime now but couldn't pursue fully due to structural hurdles it still need to overcome.  Its charter, Republic Act 7796, seems to assume a strong presence of association of technical-vocational institutions when it  provides that the TESDA Board--the highest

Ever since the establishment of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority or TESDA, private sector participation and investment in technical vocational education and training (TVET) has been encouraged.  The thinking is that, since the private sector is the major provider and end-user of TVET, it should invest more in TVET. However, it should be pointed out that private sector investment already comprises the majority of investment in TVET.  In 2002, for example, about 54 percent of investment in TVET came from the private sector.  It is however, interesting to note that more than half of this (around 53 percent or $58 million) came from the trainees themselves who paid for their training.  Meanwhile, companies invested $32 million (around 30 percent of the private sector investment) and non-government organizations or NGOs invested $14 million (around 13 percent). (" Investment in Technical Vocational Education and Training in the Philippines ," p. 66; publ

The Philippine government has been integrating some sort of technical-vocational skills in basic education.  For many years now, parts of competencies found in the current Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (or TESDA) training regulations of courses such as crop production, horticulture, tailoring, carpentry and commercial cooking have been included in elementary and high school subjects one way or another.  Recently though, the Department of Education has decided to fully insert whole qualifications for National Certificate Level I (for most qualifications) and National Certificate Level II (for a few) in the high school curriculum. (High school students will be submitted to TESDA competency assessments after finishing the qualifications.) In fact, more than half a billion pesos has been allocated for continuing the implementation of this program during the next several years. ( Philippine Daily Inquirer , September 9, 2011) Agri-Fishery Sector as Priority Budge

Local government units (LGUs) remain among the most valuable implementers of technical-vocational education and training (TVET) program in the Philippines.  In 2002, around a third of public expenditures on TVET (or around PhP1.56 billion) came from local government units. (" Investment in the Technical Vocational Education and Training in the Philippines ," p. 67; published by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Institute of Educational Planning)  Most TVET training conducted by LGUs are short-term courses (ranging from a few hours to several months) and are often along well-known qualifications or occupations such as automotive mechanic, welding and electrical installation and maintenance.  TVET courses funded but not directly conducted by LGUs are often along courses whose trainer, equipment and/or supplies requirement are beyond local government budgets such as advanced welding and heavy equipment operation or servici