THE Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) called on the hundreds of repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from the crisis-torn Middle East to consider upskilling before looking for other employment opportunities.
In a televised public briefing, Tesda Undersecretary Nelly Dillera said upskilling will provide them better skills and competencies, thereby making them better qualified.
"We are really looking at our OFWs and see if they need to elevate their skills... Maybe this is also the time for them to upskill if they need to," said Dillera.
She said all Tesda field offices and training institutions have been directed to prioritize newly repatriated OFWs from the Gulf region.
"Our district offices, provincial offices, and our training institutions in the regions and provinces have been instructed to give priority attention to our countrymen, who have returned home and are looking for work now," said Dillera.
Similarly, the Tesda official said they are also looking to tap some of them as trainers of the agency's technical-vocational education and training (TVET) programs.
Dillera said they believe that some of the repatriated OFWs are eligible and qualified to become TVET trainers.
"Who among these people, who have returned home, have skills that we can use, and can become trainers? Let's consider them experts given their experiences abroad," said Dillera.
She said such a move will be helpful to Tesda as they will no longer need to import trainers.
"Given the exposures and experiences of these OFWs abroad, we won't need to invite foreigners to do the training or to do upskilling because we can already tap them (OFWs)," said Dillera. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)