Cotabato City”•The national government has earmarked an initial funding for the construction of a training court to accommodate former combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front into acquiring technical skills through vocational education, officials said.
Omarkhayyam Dalagan, executive director of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (TESDA-ARMM), said the national government has initially set aside P3.5 million in capital outlay fund for the construction of a training court in Maguindanao for MILF combatants and their dependents.
Dalagan said the fund, which was sub-allotted to his office, is now available and said that he is only waiting for a collective decision as to where to construct the building, after his courtesy coordination with the MILF leadership.
He said the training court for former MILF combatants and their families would be Tesda’s contribution to convergent pooling of government resources to help transform as many former guerrillas as possible during the transition of the Normalization Process, under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and its Annexes.
Dalagan said the training court also formed part of Tesda’s continuing massive enrollment campaign for technical vocational education and training (TVET) which took off on Feb. 27 to 28.
Not included in the amount, Dalagan said, were cost of equipment needed in an array of choices from the training course-programs offered.
Dalagan said choices from TESDA’s new course programs include food processing, dressmaking, carpentry, masonry, plumbing, computer system servicing, health care services, motorcycle or small engine servicing, electrical installation and maintenance.
Last year, TESDA-ARMM trained 26,638 individuals, and of whom 7,297 or 87.5 percent were assessed and certified as competent skilled workers.
Amir Mawallil, executive director of the ARMM Bureau of Public Information (BPI-ARMM), said TESDA-ARMM has awarded 11,153 scholarship
slots with a total funding requirement of P81 million. The study grant slots cover Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP), Private
Education Student Financial Assistance (PESF for K to 12 compliance), and Skills Training for Employment Program (STEP).
Government officials said STEP awards its graduates with NC-II Certificates, convertible to civil service eligibility.