Jobs skills for QC school leavers

MANILA, Philippines — Young school leavers in Quezon City can look forward to learning a skill for free, getting a job, and another chance to return to school.

Some 300 drop-outs from the city’s public schools will benefit as skills scholars through a joint project of the Quezon City LGU and TESDA.

With an initial P3-million fund assistance from the QC government, TESDA will provide the free skills training to the scholars in five select trade areas with help from partner service providers.

TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva and QC Mayor Herbert Bautista signed the memorandum of agreement.

“TESDA is ready to rescue the youth from idleness and boredom and offer them free skills training to make them job-ready and help them get jobs fast,” says Secretary Villanueva.
In most cases, Villanueva explained that dropping out of school was not a choice of the students, but a condition forced on them because of poverty.

Partner institutions

Six partner technical and vocational institutions (TVIs) in Quezon City has been identified. They are the Korea-Philippines IT Training Center for IT related programs; Royal International Training Zone (Slaughtering Operations); I Learn Training Center (Tourism and Health); Reyes International School of Cosmetology (Beauty Care); Mechatronics Technologies Corporation (Mechatronics Servicing); and St. Paul University Quezon City, Inc. (Tourism and Health).

QC LGU, through barangays, will be in charge of identifying the beneficiaries, their recruitment and ensuring their attendance and completion of the training. Local officials will also assist TESDA in evaluating the training output and processes to continuously improve the implementation of the skills development project.

TESDA will ensure that competent trainers and resource persons handle the training program and that training tools, materials and methods are available to the trainees.

In the past, the city government also offered free call center training to meet the manpower requirements of the local BPO industry and support the city’s bid as the ICT Capital of the Philippines.

From a pioneering cyberpark in Eastwood City in 2001, Quezon City now has several registered ICT parks with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. The biggest of these parks is the 38-hectare UP Science and Technology Park along Commonwealth Avenue.

Aside from promoting self-employment and entrepreneurship initiatives, the QC government also assists jobseekers in finding the right jobs through its Public Employment Services Office (PESO).

The PESO’s employment facilitation services include organization of job fairs and skills registry data banking. This package of employment facilitation services and job placement assistance are in store for the graduate scholars of the TESDA and QC government free skills training project for school leavers.

For more information on TESDA programs and services, call 887-7777, send SMS message 09174794370 (Globe) 09182738232 (Smart) or follow us in Facebook (TESDA, Sec Joel Villanueva TESDA) and Twitter (SecJOELngTESDA).