The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) will soon establish a Regional Technical- Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Innovation Center in Negros Island Region (NIR).
TESDA Director General Jose Francisco Benitez said the initiative to build the facility in every region of the country is supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
“NIR as a new region is in search of where the regional training and innovation center should be,” Benitez said in a press conference on the sidelines of the 20th TESDA General Directorate Conference at the Seda Hotel here on Thursday.
Benitez said there is a proposal to establish two regional training and innovation centers in each region – one funded by the ADB and the other by the Department of Budget and Management.
“In any case, that’s another thing maybe that Negros Island Region can, in fact, look forward to,” he said.
The initiative, which is part of the Supporting Innovation in the Philippine Technical and Vocational Education and Training System Project, will ensure the provision of facilities and capability to support skills training for both local economic expansion and international workforce demands.
“We are trying to focus clearly on what we need to do this year alone. There have been major transformations and reforms in the TVET ecosystem nationally. It is part of the international and global shift in TVET to which the Philippines is also responding,” Benitez said.
He noted that the implementing rules and regulations for Enterprise-Based Education and Training (EBET) Framework Act has just been recently already signed.
The law institutionalizes the EBET framework designed to bridge the gap between education and industry demands, significantly enhancing the workforce skills and employability of Filipino workers.
TESDA also partnered with the Department of Education in providing free national certification assessments for Senior High School-Technical-Vocational-Livelihood (SHS-TVL) track students for the strengthening of technical professional track and the integration of enterprise-based practices in basic education. (PNA)
