The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is anticipating more applicants for domestic work assessment this year compared to 2020.

The agency announced in a news release on Saturday that it has already assessed 54,233 domestic work applicants just halfway into the year.

The total is higher by 7,980 compared to the 46,253 assessed applicants in 2020.

Secretary Isidro Lapeña explained that the rise is made possible by the accessible services provided by TESDA and the considerations made by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

During the height of the restricted community quarantine last year, TESDA launched the online registration for assessment for outbound overseas workers to ease the process.

A National Certificate (NC) is one of the requirements for a Filipino to work overseas.

“They can just download the TESDA application and click the TESDA Abot Lahat ang OFWs button where they can choose either to train or to be assessed. If they choose to be assessed, the concerned TESDA provincial or district office will give them the schedule of their assessment in the nearest assessment center,” Lapeña said.

He also directed regional offices to establish additional assessment centers nationwide after the IATF-EID allowed the resumption of face-to-face competency assessment.

“We want to ensure that our kababayans (compatriots) who need to undergo assessment would not have any difficulty in finding an assessment center. In fact, from May to June this year, we opened additional assessment centers in the NCR (National Capital Region), Region III and Region IV-A,” he added.

From the total number of assessed domestic work graduates from January to June this year, 49,283 were certified which is equivalent to a 90.87% certification rate.

Meanwhile, due to the continuing pandemic, Lapeña is reminding qualified outbound domestic workers to avail the agency’s existing Online Portfolio Assessment.

Leonila De Mesa, an outbound overseas worker, secured her NC after passing her Portfolio Assessment in October last year.

She lauded TESDA for extending the right services for OFWs.

“I want to thank Secretary Lapeña and everyone in TESDA for answering my queries and helping me all throughout the process. You taught and guided me on what to do and what’s good for me when I work abroad,” she said in a news release. (PNA)