Tesda supports ladderized education program

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) Director General Joel Villanueva yesterday called for the passage of proposed measures currently filed in Congress, which will promote, strengthen and institutionalize the ladderized education program (LEP) in the country.

“Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), is by itself a viable career option as it is rapid, flexible, jobs-oriented, and competency-based,” Villanueva said.

“With ladderized education, however, it will provide TVET trainees and workers with the opportunities for career and educational progression; as well as facilitate the establishment of a seamless and borderless education and training system that allows mobility in terms of flexible entry and exit into the education system,” he said.

House Bill Nos. 112, 836, and 1503, which propose the strengthening of the ladderized interface between TVET and higher education, are currently being tackled in Congress. These proposed measures were authored by Reps. Neptali Gonzales II (Mandaluyong), Mark Villar (Las Piñas City), and Marcelino Teodoro (Marikina), respectively.

The proposed legislation has already been approved by the committee on higher and technical education at the House of Representatives.

Villanueva said the enactment of this measure into law will result to the institutionalization of the LEP and more effective and efficient implementation of the program.

“Tesda is pushing and in full support of the LEP. LEP allows students to earn employable competencies through TVET qualifications embedded in the program even if they are not able to finish college,” he said.

Villanueva explained that with LEP, a TVET student may obtain college units and eventually earn a diploma after progressing through Tesda’s training programs and college classes.

LEP thus provides opportunities for TVET graduates to pursue further education and earn college diploma without repeating what they have learned in TVET.

“The LEP will offer a person the opportunity to acquire the qualifications that will equip him with the skills and competencies needed to land a job, earn an income, eventually fulfill the dream of finishing college, and liberate himself from the bondage of poverty,” the Tesda chief said.

According to Villanueva, TVET graduates make up 70 percent of the workforce in many highly industrialized countries such as Germany and Switzerland. He reiterated that college education is not the only way to be successful.

In his bill, Gonzales pointed out the 848,000 college graduates in the country who are unemployed due to “education mismatch,” wherein graduates find no available jobs related to the courses they took.

This discrepancy in the quality of skilled graduates produced by education institutions, compared to the need of the current market and industries, had resulted to “structural unemployment,” the bill said.

But this problem could be addressed with the introduction of LEP in the country as it allows the technical vocational course graduate to earn the equivalent credit units when he enrols in a degree program.

Through HB 112, the curriculum is restructured to allow a student of a “Ladderized College” degree program to earn technical or vocational credits and qualifications without having to repeat the same technical vocational subjects for which he has already acquired knowledge and competence.

Meanwhile, HB 1503 gives the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) and Tesda a mandate to formulate a unified qualifications framework that establishes “equivalency pathways and access ramps” in ladderized education.

It also intends to establish a permanent National Coordinating Technical Committee (NCTC) composed of Ched and Tesda personnel to monitor and ensure the effective implementation of the LEP.

HB 1503 further directs other government agencies such as the Professional Regulation Commission; Departments of Labor and Employment, Department of Education, Science and Technology, Trade and Industry, and Budget and Management; and National Economic and Development Authority to extend the necessary support and provide relevant inputs toward the effective implementation of the LEP. –Gerry Baldo, Daily Tribune