The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in Antique is urging local government units in the province to operationalize their training centers.

TESDA-Antique Director Rick Abraham said in an interview on Wednesday that training centers were established in each of the 18 towns in the province, but only one is operating in the municipality of Hamtic.

“The training centers were turned over to the local government units (LGUs) for them to run the centers, considering that they know best the in-demand skills in their localities,” he said.

He advised LGUs to either look for a TESDA-accredited trainer or forge a partnership with a private Technical Vocational Institution (TVI) with registered programs.

He said that Hamtic has a TVI partner that provides the skills training.

Abraham said that TESDA offers several scholarships, but the trainer or faculty, curriculum, and facilities of the training centers are first required to comply with the Unified Technical and Vocational Education Training Program Registration and Accreditation System (UTPRAS), the mandatory quality assurance mechanism of TESDA.

“I am encouraging the LGUs to operate the training centers because they are fortunate that they already have the training centers to be used,” he said. (PNA)