AGUSAN del Sur 1st District Rep. Alfel Bascug is pushing for the conversion of Agusan del Sur School of Arts and Trades into a polytechnic institute.

In pushing House Bill 8072 or the proposed Agusan del Sur Polytechnic Institute for Technical Education or ADSPITE Act, Bascug said that the conversion of the training institute into a polytechnic institute will enable it to respond to the rapidly changing demands of the industry and the labor market.

ASSAT is a TESDA-administered school in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur that teaches basic technical skills.

The institution offers TESDA-registered training programs in automotive and land transport; construction; electronics; garments; health; social and other community development services; information and communication technology; metals and engineering; processed food and beverages; tourism and technical vocational education and training.

“With the soon-to-be-established institution, ADSPITE will ultimately provide appropriate humanistic, scientific and practical knowledge, inculcate values and attitude, and hone skills for nation building to post-secondary students,” the lawmaker said in his explanatory note.

Under the bill, the institute shall play a pivotal role in helping members of Indigenous People communities, including persons with disabilities, former rebels, persons deprived of liberty, returning OFWs, drug dependents, and displaced industry workers, among others.

It shall offer TESDA-registered undergraduate certificate programs and one to three year technical-vocational courses.