By Azer Parrocha – PNA
MANILA — An official of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) on Wednesday said 72 out of 100 graduates of technical vocational education and training (TVET) programs land jobs within six months to a year, making true its promise of linking more Filipinos to jobs.
Elmer Talavera, Executive Director of the National Institute for Technical Education and Skills Development (NITESD) at TESDA said this is the most recent figure obtained from the agency’s impact evaluation study conducted annually.
“Right now, the latest figures are 72 out of every 100 graduates that are in the labor force land jobs within six months to a year,” Talavera said in a press briefing in Malacañang.
“From the previous years, 65, 68, now it’s [72]. The figures are encouraging, and we hope to maintain or continuously increase that figure,” he added.
Talavera attributed the increase in the number of tech-voc graduate employment rate to, among others, coordinating with local government units (LGUs) to compare the labor market and determine where there are vacant jobs.
He also said that conducting regular job fairs, through the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), has been helpful as well.
Last year, TESDA also launched the World Café of Opportunities (WCO), a one-stop shop that operationalizes the agency’s Job Linkaging and Networking Services (JoLiNS) program, which helps tech-voc graduates to find jobs and other scholarships.
Its target beneficiaries are tech-voc graduates; entrepreneurs, companies/industries with job vacancies, and returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their qualified beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, he expressed hope that the figure increases to 75 out of every 100 graduates landing jobs by 2019.
“I will be happy if it reaches 75 but I will consult my colleagues what their estimates are. But we have overshot our target. Our target before was to hit 65, 67 percent, we landed on close to 72 percent,” Talavera said.
To achieve the target, Talavera said the TESDA will strengthen its linkages with public employment service offices.
As of Sept. 2018, TESDA has so far produced an estimated 1.1 million tech-voc graduates.
