Under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in Davao Region (TESDA-11) has accredited some 397 training centers in the area to date, an official said Thursday.

In an interview, TESDA-11 Director Ashary Banto said that aside from accreditation servicers, the agency also offers 1,194 programs or courses.

“The challenge here is to fund all the programs. That’s why, we seek partnership whenever we can to fund some of these training programs, which range from diploma programs down to competency programs in the barangay,” he said.

Banto said the TESDA sa Barangay program is a collaboration between the local government unit (LGU) and the private sector, with TESDA providing training programs that can help enhance people’s skills at the barangay level.

The TESDA sa Barangay also involves coaching the trainers and the barangay workers, conducting various skills training, and promoting the agency’s programs and services.

“We will intensify it and through this program, we can see what the priority of the LGU is, especially in terms of livelihood,” he said, adding that the program operates as “community-based training,” which involves bringing the programs to the barangays and marginalized areas.

Banto said they went down to the barangays and tapped the community training and employment coordinators (CTEC), who helped identify the skills needed by the beneficiaries.

He added the program’s goal is to encourage LGUs to invest in the technical vocational education and training (TVET) sector by conducting training programs for lower-level qualifications, such as National Certificate (NC) I and NC II.

The TESDA sa Barangay supports Section 29 of Republic Act 7796, or the TESDA Act of 1994, which calls for the authority to formulate, implement, and finance a specific plan to develop LGUs’ capability to assume the responsibility of effectively providing community-based technical education and skills development opportunities.

Meanwhile, 101 graduates from this town completed the NC II courses offered by TESDA-11 on Thursday.

Twenty-five persons with disabilities passed Dressmaking NC II, 26 and 25 out-of-school youth completed Photovoltaic Systems Installation NC II and Masonry NC II, respectively, and 25 members of a women’s association completed bread and pastry production. (PNA)