TESDA strengthens dual training system to lessen job mismatch

In a bid to lessen the job mismatch in the country, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority steps up its campaign for the dual training system (DTS), this time, involving players in various industries. TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva on August 31 welcomed a total of 250 delegates from major industries in Central Luzon, who attended the first-ever forum on how to implement the DTS effectively. "We expect that through industry consultations, the DTS will be effectively implemented throughout the country to lessen the job mismatch," Villanueva said at the forum. The industry forum, held at the Hotel Stotsenberg in Clark Freeport Zone, is the first leg of the nationwide consultations with industry players on the DTS. Under Republic Act 7686, the DTS brings together "establishments and the educational institution to share the responsibility of providing the trainee with the best possible job qualifications, the former essentially through practical training and the latter by securing an adequate level of specific, general and occupation-related theoretical instruction." TESDA's move to focus on the industries' involvement in the DTS is expected to help jobseekers find employment through the two-year training program within targeted firms, Villanueva said. Sixty percent of the two-year training duration will be spent in actual work and 40 percent of the time will be spent at training centers. Trainees will still get salaries (75 percent of the minimum wage), even as they are assured of employment upon completion of the training. "The Job mismatch problem will be lessened because jobseekers who avail of the DTS are assured of employment in the particular industry they trained for," Villanueva said. The Clark forum highlighted the Panasonic's experience in DTS, where 1000 of its 3000 workers are trainees, who are assured of regular employment in the company after their two-year training. Villanueva vowed to strengthen the DTS through TESDA's nationwide drive to involve the industries in the training system. — Fernando dela Cruz/LBG, GMA News