The Senate Committee on Finance has added more than P50 million to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for the accreditation of more than 11,000 additional assessors, Senator Win Gatchalian said.
The additional funding, Gatchalian said, will support the rollout of the free assessment and certification of 420,967 Grade 12 learners taking the technical-vocational-livelihood (TVL) track.
The senator proposed to increase TESDA’s appropriation for the Technical Education and Skills Development Regulatory Program by P50,012,000
He has been pushing for the assessment and certification of senior high learners in the TVL track to boost their chances of getting decent jobs.
While a certification could boost a senior high school graduate’s employability, the Department of Education (DepEd) said that not all learners can afford the cost of undergoing assessment.
Gatchalian also recommended the allocation of P438.16 million under TESDA’s Development Regulatory Program for the assessment and certification of these senior high school learners.
For School Year 2020-2021, only 6.7 percent or 32,965 out of 473,911 senior high school graduates who took the TVL track underwent the assessment for national certification. Ninety-seven percent or 31,933 of those who took the assessment passed.
“Currently, TESDA has around 7,500-pool of assessors and to certify all our senior high school graduates, we need an additional 11,000,” he said.