OUT of the 59 world standard technical skills other countries are currently developing and competing for, only 18 technical skills are available for training in Davao Region and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) plans to develop more skills viable enough to generate more employment.
Available technical skills in Davao Region include automotive, welding, cookery, restaurant service, plumbing and heating, megatronics, electrical, fashion technology, electronics, hair dressing, and beauty therapy among others.
Tesda National Technical Committee co-vice chair Francisco Jucar, Jr. said the training standards for these technical skills are patterned after the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) and world standards just that the Level 5 of the Philippines may be able to compete with that of the other countries.
“Looking at the skills capacity and need of each region, we cannot yet determine what specific skills need to be added in our list and how many. But we really need to improve our program, our curriculum to at least start with that specific area,” said Jucar.
He added skills like landscaping, which is an available technical skill in other countries, can easily be adapted in the Philippines’ current Tesda curriculum as it does not require too much technology and is already existing in the country. What Jucar thinks that needs to be done is the improvement of these available skills.
He mentioned water management technology, another world standard technical skill available in other countries. Although this is one of the 59 skills not yet available in Tesda, Jucar said this may take a longer time to be implemented as it would require modern technology for training and implementation.
As for his part, Tesda National Technical Committee vice chair Rolando Dela Torre, said some of the 59 world standard skills are already very much practiced in the country as career by some Filipinos but they are not yet specifically officially included as skills training in Tesda.
“We have not invested in these modern power tools that are actually wireless. Example, carpentry. We have carpenters but we do not compete with the World Skills Competition under that category. It is because we do not have these power tools. These are cordless, battery-operated hand tools,” said Dela Torre adding these equipment are a little expensive.
He also added that the other country’s edge against the Philippines are their Computer Numerical Control (CNC) program which allows technical equipment such as welding machines to be computer-operated.
He said this is where the need for the electrical sector of the technical industry to also teach the young electricians of computer programming due to its consistently changing landscape.
“Our equipment and our skills training curriculum are actually late by about 15 years compared to other countries. We need to pay attention to this aspect as this helps us to eat and raise income,” Dela Torre said adding that the Filipinos have the intellect and more potential as compared to other countries and it would be a waste if not given proper attention.