The Technical education and Skills development Authority (Tesda) has received a P1.1 billion stimulus to develop more qualified skilled workers for the growing business process outsourcing (BPO) industry and other promising sectors, the agency chief said yesterday.
Tesda Director General Joel Villanueva said President Aquino announced the additional allocation this week to build the country’s manpower for BPOs, tourism, agribusiness, construction and semi-conductor firms.
Villanueva said the amount is on top of Tesda’s proposed P2.68 billion budget for the next year.
The official said P500 million would be used “to beef up training of scholars and trainors for the BPO sector.”
“Our initial target for this is 70,000 [trainees], and out of these, 49,000 are expected to be committed to be employed in various BPO firms,” Villanueva told the INQUIRER.
The remainder will be used for other emerging sectors in need of qualified employees, Villanueva said.
“The remaining P600 million will be spent for the other sectors such as tourism, agribusiness, construction, semi-conductors industry. The money will also be used to train more trainors to ensure quality education of the scholars, thereby helping these industries,” said the official.
Tesda is aiming to increase its training capacity by at least 100,000 trainees annually, hoping to graduate almost 8.5 million qualified skilled workers by 2016. The agency targets at 60.8 percent employment rate out its trainees.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer - October 14, 2011