MANILA — With the recent success of its first staging this year, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is now bent on having its National Assessment Day (NAD) yearly, certifying the skills of not only those already employed but also those who are still seeking jobs.
Close to 25,000 availed of the free assessment in the first NAD held last June 26-27, when TESDA had initially expected 11,200 people to benefit from it.
But Ma. Susan Dela Rama, TESDA Certification Office executive director, said the state agency needs to allot more budget for the staging of NAD in the coming years.
“The Secretary (TESDA Director General Guiling Mamondiong) wants to institutionalize NAD, so we will conduct this yearly. We need funds to provide more (free assessments). We need to budget for next year,” Dela Rama told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Thursday.
Dela Rama said TESDA might need PHP18 million for the next NAD. The agency had allotted a PHP13-million budget for the two-day activity last June.
“We have underestimated the total number of applicants, who would avail of the free assessment. We have already requested for an additional budget for that,” she explained, adding that the budget would also depend on the TESDA qualifications to be assessed.
“We are also still getting final reports from the field offices,” she said.
The price of assessment depends on the skills training, and the cost ranges from PHP500 to about PHP2,500.
Dela Rama earlier explained that the price is higher if there will be more equipment needed for the assessment. “Welding, for instance, needs an equipment. So that would be pricier than the other assessment,” she said.
The recently-concluded NAD welcomed not just the industry workers, but everyone who intended to be assessed — including high school graduates and those who had a training from K-12.
Data from TESDA showed that the top 10 courses, for which many applicants were assessed, were: Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) NC ll with 2,080 assessed; Computer System Servicing NC ll – 1,860; Cookery NC ll – 1,598; Housekeeping NC ll – 1,570; Food & Beverage Services NC ll – 1,434; Driving NC ll – 1,411; Bread & Pastry Production NC ll -1,243; Domestic Work NC ll – 1,071; Bookkeeping NC lll – 910 and Electrical Installation and Maintenance (EIM) NC ll – 820. (Ma. Cristina Arayata/PNA)
