THE TECHNICAL Education and Skills Development Authority and the Philippine Constructors Association aim to produce 4.4 million highly skilled workers in the construction sector for the next eight years.

TESDA Director General Danilo Cruz said that the agency has intensified its training delivery on construction-related courses to make the country’s construction workers more competitive in the local and overseas labor markets.

“We are grateful that we have our partners in the PCA. Through our partnership with them, we can ensure that what we teach in TESDA construction-related courses are at par with international standards,” Cruz said.

The PCA has a long-standing partnership with TESDA to strengthen the construction sector. Last August 4, Cruz and Deputy Director General for TESDA Operations Aniceto D. Bertiz III met with PCA President Wilfredo Decena and other officials to discuss the latter’s programs and projects.

These initiatives are in line with the targets set in the Construction Industry Roadmap 2020-2030, which PCA plans to achieve along with other construction industry associations and related government agencies.

In 2018, TESDA and PCA partnered to train some 2,000 construction supervisors under the Training for Work Scholarship Program to support the previous administration’s ‘Build Build Build’ projects.

In June 2022, TESDA and PCA signed a memorandum of agreement establishing PCA as the National Industry Board for the construction sector.

Cruz said TESDA has partnered with the private sector in pursuit of a more area-based and demand-driven technical vocational education and training.

“We continue to tie up with the industry to guarantee that tech-voc graduates have exactly the skills and knowledge that are required by employers,” he said.

Apart from PCA, TESDA has an outstanding partnership with 28 Recognized Industry Boards, especially in hospitality, information and communications, agriculture, manufacturing among others