SENATORS Sherwin Gatchalian and Joel Villanueva said that the government wasted an estimated P2.77 billion on community-based scholars of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority who did not undergo assessment.

“If you look at the data…community-based ay napakalaki ng total, eh,” Villanueva said, pointing out TESDA’s data that 36.21 percent of their graduates come from community-based programs.

Villanueva also noted that out of the 44,000 clients enrolled in community-based TESDA programs this year, only 17,995 were able to graduate.

Out of that number, only 4,086 obtained a Certificate of Competency, and, from that set, only 3,937 were awarded a National Certificate.

“What happened to the balance?”Villanueva asked.

“The government paid for the training, they went to our scholarship program, but in the end, they were not assessed, therefore the training becomes useless. Because without assessment and CoC, how can they get a job?” Gatchalian said.

TESDA Deputy Director General Aniceto Bertiz III pointed out that the agency is facing a challenge in scheduling assessments, as well as lacking in the number of assessors to conduct these assessments.

TESDA has 7,593 assessors.

Villanueva said that considering that there is an estimated 1.5 million clients in the entire TVET sector in the country, the number would amount to 197 clients per assessor.

“Ang point ko lang, kulang na kulang ‘yung assessors,” Villanueva said.