THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Negros Occidental has recognized the need to also integrate entrepreneurship among schools in the province offering technical-vocational (tech-voc) courses, its official said.
Engiemar Tupas, officer-in-charge chief Industry Development Division of DTI-Negros Occidental, said the measure will further boost the creation of more micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the province.
Tupas said integrating entrepreneurship will enable tech-voc students to grow and develop their entrepreneurial skills and mindset at a young age.
“Entrepreneurship potential is not only limited to business courses. Graduates of technical and vocational courses can also venture into enterprising,” he said, adding that this will encourage students to become not just employees but also entrepreneurs.
On Friday, January 10, 2020 at least 15 staff and trainers of the Negros Occidental Language and Information Technology Center (Nolitc) in Bacolod City attended the entrepreneurship training.
It was requested by Ma. Cristina Orbecido, vocational school administrator of the provincial government-run center.
Tupas, during the training, underscored that entrepreneurship is about creation of enterprises and eventually employment generation.
Nolitc is the first tech-voc training (TVET) school in the province to tap the DTI for the conduct of the training on entrepreneurship.
Through this training, the trainers are being equipped on how to integrate entrepreneurship in the courses offered by the center.
“Eventually, they can teach the students on how to become entrepreneurs,” he said.
Tupas recalled that the Association of Technical Institutions of Negros Occidental (Atino) already expressed interest to conduct entrepreneurship training in their respective school in 2019.
“But we have yet to wait for their requests,” he said, stressing that the Technical Education and Schools Development Authority (Tesda) now requires TVET schools to integrate entrepreneurship in their courses.
Tupas pointed out that integrating does not mean creating another course on entrepreneurship.
They just have to embed it in their existing tech-voc courses, he added.