Mindanaotoday.com | Skills mismatch no more: Tesda MisOr
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Mismatch between skills and jobs in the industry sector in Misamis Oriental no longer exists, a Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) provincial official said Wednesday, January 18.
“It’s a thing of the past,” Tesda Provincial Director Marigold Cherie Garrido said, when asked in a forum at SM Downtown mall in Cagayan de Oro on how they have been addressing industry needs for skilled workers.
In the past, industry locators at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Tagoloan and Villanueva towns, Misamis Oriental could not readily fill job vacancies due to skills mismatch – a discrepancy between the skills the employers need and the skills that individuals possess.
Garrido said they used to sit down with stakeholders for needed industry-specific skills – even after a training center right at the Phividec area was established — but this has shifted in recent years to competency assessments when private firms started putting up their own training centers.
She said industry-based skills training centers are under their Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) program, and they administer industry-based NC I (national competency) and NC II assessments for the graduates.
One of these, she said, is the Cagayan de Oro-based Crossroads Training Institute (CTI) which Tesda has accredited as a private industry-based Technical Vocational Institute (TVI) and CTI has been providing skills training needs of Kia Philippines.
Institute Director Lorimer V. Angeles, when asked for details, said CTI was established in 2015 with programs on Automotive Servicing (NC I and NC II), 3-Year Diploma on Automotive Technology, and Computer Systems Servicing (NC II).
Angeles said that CTI, aside from Kia Philippines, is also an affiliate of Greencars Mindanao Corporation, where its NC I and NC II passers and DAT graduates may be needed.
Garrido said that the Philippine Iron Construction and Marine Works (PICMW) in Jasaan, Misamis Oriental, Toyota Motors Philippines, and Motormate have their skills training programs – all Tesda-accredited.
She said they have been assisting school-based and community-based initiatives, often with the support of local governments – including specialized livelihood trainings.
They have also forged partnership with the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. so that training needs among Oro Chamber members could be addressed.
Meanwhile, she advised those who wish to avail of Tesda scholarships to check their websites since applications can be done online, or personally visit and have their names pre-enrolled in Tesda-recognized schools, so they would be given priority.
Garrido said public and private senior high schools, may request Tesda for NC I and II assessments of their graduates from Technical-Vocational-
She said they have packages of livelihood trainings, with other agencies of government, and are intended for former rebels, persons deprived of liberty, persons with disabilities, displaced persons due to calamities, and out-of-school youth. (MT)
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