More than 1.6 million Filipinos have so far regìstered in the online program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
On Thursday, July 29, TESDA reported that 1,632,168 individuals have registered in the TOP from March 2020 to June 2021.
The agency said this brought the total accumulated users since 2012 at 3,068,775.
TOP is an open educational resource that aims to make technical vocational education and training (TVET) more accessible to Filipinos and widen their chances of employment or sources of livelihood.
Currently, the TOP offers 103 online courses from different industry sectors such as Health Care, Tourism, Agriculture, and Electronics, among others. Courses with the biggest number of enrollees include “Practicing COVID-19 Preventive Measures in the Workplace,” “Preparing Cakes,” “Introduction to Food Processing” “Introduction to Computer Systems Servicing” and “Performing Proper Waste Management in the Workplace.” TESDA said it has also produced 389, 767 graduates and certified 257, 273 individuals as skilled workers under its regular training programs from January to June 2021.
For repatriated Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), the agency said it has trained 5,558 from January to June 2021, of which, 2,433 were already certified as skilled workers.
With this, TESDA Secretary Isidro Lapeña encouraged everyone to avail of the agency's online courses and different scholarship programs to remain productive amid the mobility restrictions due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“I invite students and workers to try enrolling in our online classes and other scholarship programs. This is offered for free,” he said in a statement.