THE PHILIPPINES has turned over the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Technical Vocational Education and Training Council to Singapore.

At the culmination of the second meeting of the ATC held in Pasay City, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority officially transferred the ATC chairmanship to Singapore.

TESDA Director General Danilo Cruz said that the ATC has accomplished a lot with the Philippines at the helm.

One of these accomplishments was the development of the ATC Work Plan 2021-2030 which aims to advance TVET in the ASEAN region.

“We hope that Singapore will continue the work we have done in the ASEAN TVET Council. The whole council commit to working closely with Singapore in addressing the challenges in the TVET sector,” Cruz said.

The Philippines served as the inaugural chair of the ATC from 2020 to 2022 with Singapore as vice chair. From 2022-2024, Singapore will serve as ATC chair while Thailand will serve as its vice chair.

The ATC was launched on September 16, 2020 during the virtual High-level Ministerial Conference on Human Resources Development for the Changing World of Work.

It envisions to achieve an advanced TVET towards competitive human resources; market-responsive workforce skills; greater employment opportunities locally and overseas; higher productivity in the digital economy and a human-centered future of work towards a resilient and innovative ASEAN community.

The ATC is comprised of representatives from the labor, education and economic ministries of the ASEAN member-states. Four regional organizations, namely, ASEAN Confederation of Employers, ASEAN Future Workforce Council, ASEAN Trade Union Council, and Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Secretariat are also represented in the ATC.