Davao City 1st district Rep. Paolo Duterte (Facebook)
Davao City 1st district Rep. Paolo Dutere is highlighting a bill filed in the current 19th Congress that seeks to establish a local district office of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). The proposal is embodied in House Bill (HB) No.1756, which Duterte filed in July 2022. He said the measure aims to enable more people in Mindanao to access better job opportunities through technical and vocational training. Incidentally, Duterte's district office announced last week that it would be accepting scholarship applicants for various courses under the Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) of TESDA. In his bill, Duterte noted that the existing TESDA Provincial Office caters not only to Davao to the entire province of Davao del Sur, also covers Davao City. With 182 barangays and a population of 1.78 million, Davao City alone covers a large area that necessitates setting up a separate TESDA office to enable the agency to effectively deliver its services and fulfill its goal of providing “quality-assured and inclusive” technical and vocational education, Duterte said. He said establishing this separate TESDA office will provide “better and more focused technical-vocational education and training (TVET) for the people of Davao City". Davao City currently has 113 registered private technical vocational institutions. There are three public TESDA training institutions, with 504 registered programs/qualifications, and 33 accredited assessment centers with 224 accredited programs/qualifications. The TWSP forms part of the government’s ongoing efforts to expand the reach of TVET to the grassroots and improve the employability of underprivileged Filipinos. Duterte’s office is seeking beneficiaries of the program with the following qualifications: (1) must be 18 years old at the time the TWSP scholarship is completed, and (2) must be a high school graduate. The TWSP courses offered by Duterte’s Congressional District Office are as follows: Automotive Servicing NC I, Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) NC I, Electrical Installation and Maintenance NC II, Health Care Services NC II, Computer Systems Servicing NC II, and Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) NC II. These courses are available at the following institutions: Davao Institute of Technical Education, Inc.; Toyozu Technical School Foundation, Inc.; Efficio Training, Inc.; St. Patrick Math-Sci School, Inc., and Core Institute of Technology, Inc.