Tesda pushes work skills training for OFWS displaced by pandemic

THE Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) has continued to provide skills training to overseas Filipino workers (OFWS) displaced from their jobs by the pandemic.

“We, in Tesda, always try to be more responsive to the needs of our kababayans. In the case of our repatriated OFWS, we make our services more accessible and we train them to be equipped enough for new jobs or livelihood so they can continue to provide for their families even after they lost their jobs overseas,” Tesda Director General Secretary Isidro Lapeña said.

One of the beneficiaries, Hindon Usman, a former OFW from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, shared that she started her journey at Tesda when her sister introduced to her the TMBMF (Taha M. Basman Memorial Islamic Foundation Inc.), also known as TAHA Foundation.

The TAHA Foundation is a partner of the Tesda Women’s Center (TWC), one of the Tesda training centers in Taguig City. Usman enrolled Electrical Installation Maintenance (EIM) NC II at TWC last January and finished the course in March.

Usman said that she enrolled in the EIM NC II course just to learn how to fix their electrical wirings at home. She said that she had a hard time during the training but she pursued it to prove that women can do jobs traditionally done by men.

“Nakakatuwa isipin na napatunayan ko na kahit sino kaya ‘tong gawin regardless sa kung ano man ang sekswalidad o kasarian nila,” she said adding that she will soon find a local job or in abroad where she can apply what she had learned during the training.

Usman also urged Filipinos, particularly repatriated OFWS to avail Tesda trainings, adding that having a National Certificate is an advantage, especially in applying work abroad.

Meanwhile, data showed that in 2021, Tesda has trained 27,452 OFWS and their dependents, of which, 10,341 were already certified as skilled workers.

The top courses among the OFWS and their dependents in 2021 were Entrepreneurship, Bread and Pastry Production NC II, Driving NC II, Domestic Work NC II, and Caretaker II.

It can be recalled that in his 2020 State of the Nation Address, President Duterte has instructed Tesda to come up with special training to retool the OFWS, so they could find more job opportunities here and abroad.

Lapeña then, in 2020, launched the “Tesda Abot Lahat ang OFWS ,” the agency’ s which focuses on the ups killing and retooling of ofws and their dependents.