THE Technical Education and Skills Development Authority launched an improved version of its popular TESDA Online Program to the public.

This was made possible after TESDA, in collaboration with the Department of Information and Communication Technology, successfully completed the migration of its TOP servers under the latter’s Amazon Web Services Cloud.

TESDA Secretary Suharto Mangudadatu led the launching activity and was joined by DDG Rosanna Urdaneta, DDG Aniceto Bertiz III, DDG Vidal Villanueva, DICT Director Joshua Querol, and AWS Public Sector Representative Paolo Balinas, along with AWS Solutions Architect Mr. Viril Calimim.

The TESDA chief cited the initiative aims to increase the platform’s productivity, and improve learning experiences of online learners.

“Through this partnership, we have ensured the sustainability of the TOP in serving millions of our kababayans in the country and our overseas Filipino workers. This relieves TESDA from the challenges related to cloud hosting maintenance, security and budget requirements,” Mangudadatu said.

The agency highlighted the enhancements of the platform through various innovations such as the multi-regional TOP dashboards for the TESDA Technology Institutions, and the TOP Mobile Application which allows the downloading of courses for offline use.

Furthermore, the TOP now has an AI technical support chatbot called ‘TOPE.’

“We would like to thank the DICT for welcoming the hosting of the TOP and the technical support of the AWS who have worked overtime with TESDA during the holidays to ensure the success of this initiative,” added Mangudadatu.

By virtue of DICT Circular No. 02-17 or the Cloud First Policy, government agencies are enjoined to utilize the DICT’s GovCloud service to reduce the cost (acquisition and operation) of government ICT by eliminating the duplication of hardware and systems, and fragmentation of databases.

The TESDA Online Program is a key initiative in TESDA’s mission to enhance TVET accessibility.

As of posting, it has reached 6,599,645 million course enrollments and 4,220,344 completers, including 329,118 OFWs, offering 167 courses and still growing.