TESDA has P404.7M budget for 25,835 scholarships program

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) called on the public to avail of the 25,835 scholarships which has a total budget of P404.7 million.

In the Regional Coordinating Council meeting recently, Bernadette Puertas of TESDA-6 announced that for 2017.

TESDA offers the following scholarships with corresponding slots and budgets:

• Private Education Student Financial Assistance (PESFA) – 1,409 slots (P19.6M)
• Special Training for Employment Program (STEP) – 1,142 slots (P79.6M)
• Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) – 11,942 slots (P125.8M)
• Yolanda Rehabilitation and Recovery Program (YRRP) – 11,342 slots (179.5M)

PESFA extends financial aid to poor but deserving students in technical-vocational education and training (TVET) courses, and assists private institutions by assuring a steady supply of enrollees to their TVET courses.

It particularly supports the Manufacturing Resurgence Program that targets to rebuild the existing capacities of industries, strengthen new ones and maintain the competitiveness of industries with comparative advantage.

Started in 2014, STEP provides scholarships for skills in line with the following: agriculture, automotive, construction, metals and engineering, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, electronics, furniture and fixtures, garments and textiles, health, social and other community development services, tourism, processed foods, and utilities.

TWSP, meanwhile, are scholarships to support rapid, inclusive and sustained economic growth through course offerings in priority industries and key employment generators such as agri-fishery/agri-business/agro-industrial, tourism, information technology-business process management, semi-conductor and electronics, automotive, other priority manufacturing industries, logistics, general infrastructure, and new emerging sectors.

YRRP, on the other hand, is additional funding support to assist in sustainable development of “Yolanda”-affected communities thru livelihood and skills training opportunities. Its target beneficiaries are 15 years old and above and are identified through Barangay-based Skills Mapping Survey, with those in relocated communities as priorities.

The trainees are entitled to free tuition on technical and entrepreneurship training, free assessment fee, training support fund and tool kits. Beneficiaries can avail of the program twice even in unrelated qualifications.

Only about half of the scholarships are availed to date as some of the funds were only released recently. – by Maricyn A. De los Santos (The Daily Guardian)