Poor students get a ‘lift’
RODOLFO Sevilleno, 22, of Bantayan Island, Cebu, took a huge gamble when he came to Metro Manila to find a way to help his family after their house was destroyed by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in 2013.
“I just wanted to find work immediately,” Sevilleno said. But being only a high school graduate, he struggled to find a stable job.
When a friend offered to help him enroll in a technical-vocational (tech-voc) course, he grabbed the chance.
“(This) is my last card to pursue my dreams for me and my family. I endured the sadness of living far from my loved ones. I know they will endure it, too,” said Sevilleno, who is now on his 10th month of studies at Don Bosco Technical Institute (DBTI) in Makati City, taking up Electro-Mechanical Technology and Fitter-Machinist Technology (EMT-FMT).
Sevilleno and nine other Don Bosco students were presented recently to the media as the first scholars of a partnership between DBTI and Jardine Schindler Elevator Corp., a leading supplier of elevators and escalators in Southeast Asia.
During the event held at the Jardine Schindler Training Center in Muntinlupa City, a memorandum of agreement was signed granting full scholarships to 20 DBTI students every year.
Ten new scholars will be added to the roster in April and another 10 in October.
The program provides on-the-job-training (OJT) allowance, medical insurance, training materials, tools and personal protective equipment—around P70,000 per scholar.
DBTI vice rector Fr. Jose Dindo Vitug said the scholars were among the poorest of Don Bosco’s students. “[T]his is our way of helping them and providing a better life for them. Give them skills, train them and they will certainly become productive members of society,” he said.
Jardine Schindler managing director Jesus Bernardo Palma III said the company chose DBTI as a partner because of the values the school upholds.
“Skills can be taught but what is important on our part is having the right people who share our values,” Palma said.
Scholar Madellaine Reñosa, a fresh graduate of Elpidio Quirino High School in Manila, said she decided to take a tech-voc course to help her family.
The 18-year-old Reñosa wanted to be an engineer, but said “it’s all right to set aside my dream to (go to) college. I just want to contribute to our family (income) as early as possible.”
The scholars will undergo a three-year apprenticeship program: 15 months at DBTI to provide them with fundamen- tal knowledge and background on EMT-FMT and 21 months of OJT at the Jardine Schindler training center where they will receive hands-on training on the installation, maintenance and modernization processes of elevators and escalators.
Palma said the scholars would start earning a salary once they start their apprenticeship at the center.
“Elevator and escalator installation and maintenance need highly technical skills that one must develop inside the facility,” Palma said to explain why a 21-month OJT was needed.
According to guidelines set by the Technical Education and
Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and the Commission on Higher Education, the internship or apprenticeship program should be six months long at most.
For 19-year-old scholar Jeizel Decipulo, the prospect of being hired by Jardine Schindler after her apprenticeship would make a big difference to her and her family.
She has so far failed to get a job despite a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Services from City University of Pasay.
The second course at Don Bosco seems more promising.
“The salary (from the OJT) would be a big help to my family, but I ammore excited about the skills I will learn,” Decipulo said.