AROUND 12,000 students from Metro Cebu and Metro Manila will be trained in the next two years to incorporate green initiatives into their technical-vocational skills training.
Aimed at solving the growing threat of climate change, advancing sustainability and solving unemployment in the Philippines, the Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (Assist) with J.P. Morgan, a global finance services firm, launched “Project sustainABILITY” on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at a hotel in Cebu City.
In an interview with the media, Francis Macatulad, executive director of Assist, said the project aims to train the youth in new skills with an emphasis on green initiatives that will support the growth of the green economy through green jobs.
Macatulad said the project will equip at least 20 technical-vocational institutes (TVIs) across Metro Cebu and Manila.
In turn, these TVIs will train over 750 instructors in green skills instruction which will then train at least 12,000 students in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu for the next two years.
He said Project SustainABILITY aims to enhance sustainability in the workforce across key industries across construction, metals and engineering, automotive, land transportation, agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
He added that it also allows the development of a new curriculum based on these key industries and focuses on green initiatives followed by its implementation through training, and lastly, facilitating job placement of at least half of the trainees.
The “Project sustainABILITY” will be supported by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) in partnership with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Department of Labor and Employment, and other government agencies.
Undersecretary Vidal Villanueva III, Tesda’s deputy director general for special concerns, who joined the lunch on Wednesday, said the program is one of the ways to protect the environment.
Under the project, Villanueva said Tesda will review the current curriculum and training regulations to incorporate green initiatives into the learning platform.
In the construction industry, Villanueva said the project will educate students to identify construction materials that are harmful to the environment and equip them to shift to green technology and initiatives to protect the environment better.
The project was first launched in Taguig City on April 12, 2024. / EHP