THE Technical Education and Skills Development Authority is institutionalizing its training programs at the barangay level to help produce skilled individuals and boost local economies.

This after it issued the implementing guidelines of its “TESDA Sa Barangay” initiative, the flagship program of Secretary Suharto Mangudadatu, which aims to extend the reach of the agency to the barangays, and to mainstream technical vocational education and training at the community level to benefit more Filipinos.

“The operationalization of the ‘TESDA sa Barangay’ will be the agency’s strategy to promote and communicate the value of skills training and lifelong learning to encourage LGUs to invest in the TVET sector through the conduct of training programs on lower-level qualifications, such as NC I and NC II, for the benefit of their constituents in their own locality,” Mangudadatu said.

“TESDA then will offer more diploma programs or higher-level TVET qualifications once LGUs start to offer lower-level qualifications,” the TESDA chief added.

The TESDA sa Barangay program aims to improve accessibility to quality tech-voc training programs; professionalize constituents at the barangay and local level, and develop trainers and the barangay workers; strengthen the collaboration with barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials in the implementation of TESDA’s projects and programs; stimulate development and balanced economic growth in the locality; establish community economics/enterprises; advocate TVET devolution to LGUs; and, capacitate the LGUs for TVET delivery.

The TESDA sa Barangay program supports Section 29 of Republic Act No. 7796 or the TESDA Act of 1994, which calls for the authority to formulate, implement, and finance a specific plan to develop the capability of local government units to ultimately assume the responsibility for effectively providing community-based technical education and skills development opportunities.

The program embodies the “Bagong Pilipinas” brand of governance that is focused on implementing an all-inclusive plan for economic and social transformation towards the attainment of comprehensive policy reforms and full economic recovery.

Further, it is also anchored on the newly launched National Technical Education and Skills Development Plan (NTESDP) 2023-2028, which is the blueprint of the TVET sector for the next five years, and TESDA’s central strategy of area based, demand driven TVET.