THE TECHNICAL Education and Skills Development Authority vowed to continue upskilling and reskilling Filipinos so that they could be more adaptive to the changing demand of industries.

TESDA Director General Suharto Mangudadatu said that strengthening the country’s technical vocational education and training system as part of his 10-point agenda for the agency.

“We are modernizing our TVET system through the provision of upgraded, accessible, and labor market-responsive technical vocational training programs and skills certification standards. We are also setting up more training institutions, including innovation centers, that are central to the modernization of TVET systems,” Mangudadatu said.

“Further, we are closely involved in the continuous development and implementation of the Philippine Qualifications Framework as well as the Philippine Skills Framework, both of which help enhance the value and comparability of Philippine education and training qualifications, and support the mobility of Filipino students and workers,” the TESDA chief added.

The agency has been establishing innovation centers to upgrade TVET with technology research and entrepreneurship development to produce 4.0-ready graduates and also to address the retooling and upskilling of workers affected by technology advancement.

Currently, there are four innovation centers nationwide located in Isabela, Cebu, Northern Samar, and Zamboanga Sibugay.

In his second State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. mentioned the contributions of TESDA and TVET in implementing his administration’s programs to prepare more Filipinos for work.

“TVET continues to prove itself to be an empowering educational intervention. There are many examples of how its graduates have gone on to secure competitive technical jobs,” the President said.

From July 2022 to May 2023, TESDA has tallied 1,135,783 TVET graduates in all training delivery modes – institution-based training, enterprise-based training, and community-based training.

TESDA said it will prioritize the implementation of the TESDA sa Barangay, which is a massive skills training program for the communities at the local level, targeting the poor and the marginalized. It is designed to catalyze the creation of livelihood enterprises that shall be implemented by the trainees immediately after the training.

For the past year, TESDA strengthened its policy and program coordination and continues to intensify the implementation of existing quality assured TVET delivery, assessment and certification programs.