Sen. Joel “TESDAMAN” Villanueva marked Valentine’s Day with the renewal of his barista National Certificate II (NC II), saying this is a way for him to “walk the talk” and emphasize how important technical-vocational education is for the country.
Villanueva, Chair of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resource Development, visited the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) offices on Monday for the renewal.
When he was TESDA Director General, Villanueva himself issued the directive to have NCs renewed every five years to ensure up-to-date training and upskilling.
“Tech-voc upskilling is essential in the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS), which should be institutionalized and expanded through tech-voc,” the senator said.
Villanueva said that TESDA National Certifications embody his reelection platform of job opportunity and security.
“National Certifications create job opportunities and secure livelihoods. The promise of tech-voc education is the certainty of employability, and it’s a promise that we in government should deliver,” he said.
The senator said that his certificate renewal is part of the continuing effort to erase the social stigma against tech-voc courses.
“TESDA’s tech-voc quality education is laser-focused towards employment. It is one of the best ways we are tightening the job-skills mismatch, and is flexible enough to cater to ever-changing demands of the job market,” he said.
Villanueva noted that TESDA initiatives such as TESDA Online Program (TOP) and the “TESDA Abot Lahat ang OFWs” program are examples of how the country’s tech-voc education has kept up with the times. The TOP offers online tech-voc courses, while the OFW-centric program focuses on upskilling and retooling repatriated OFWs and their dependents, both seeing renewed success during the pandemic period.
Currently, TESDA National Certifications are part of the national policy on technical and vocational education and training (TVET), but Villanueva sees this policy focusing more on higher technology qualifications (NC IV and NC V) and work/based training (apprenticeship / enterprise-based training) in the next few years.
“We are passionate in elevating tech-voc education and TESDA National Certifications in national policy, and we want to continue this advocacy for a second term in Congress,” said the reelectionist senator.
The visit was also a homecoming for the senator, who earned the nickname TESDAMAN for championing tech-voc and skills certification as the agency’s director general from 2010 to 2015.
Villanueva defended TESDA’s 2022 budget in the Senate, resulting in increased allocations for scholarships. This includes Php1.5 billion for the Tulong Trabaho Scholarship Program, which facilitates access to quality tech-voc education and training, as well as strengthens the qualifications of the Filipino workforce to meet the challenges of rapidly evolving workplaces and work structures.
