SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday urged the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to ensure that there will be enough assessors for the free assessment and certification for senior high school graduates in the technical-vocational livelihood track.

Gatchalian made his call after the Department of Education and TESDA issued the joint guidelines for senior high school graduates’ free assessment and certification.

The 2024 national budget allocates more than P438 million under the TESDA Regulatory Program for the assessment and issuance of national certification to more than four hundred thousand Grade 12 learners.

The 2024 national budget also allotted P50.012 million to expand TESDA’s pool of assessors.

This allocation would add 11,000 to TESDA’s current assessment capacity. By the end of 2024, the number of assessors is expected to triple from 7,551 to around 19,000.

“Magandang balita para sa mga senior high school graduates natin sa tech-voc track na libre na ang assessment at certification para sa kanila. Mahalagang hakbang ito upang tumaas ang tsansa nilang magkaroon ng magandang trabaho kapag sila’y nakatapos na,” said Gatchalian who proposed the funding for the assessment and issuance of national certifications.

“Kasabay nito, dadagdagan natin ang bilang ng ating mga assessors sa TESDA. Kaya naman naglaan tayo ng pondo upang matiyak na may sapat tayong mga assessor para sa pagpapatupad ng libreng assessment sa mga senior high school graduates sa tech-voc,” Gatchalian added.