The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has allocated P30 million for the training of 5,172 scholars in the semiconductor and electronics industry. Secretary Joel Villanueva, TESDA Director General, announced that the agency has teamed up anew with the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) to harness the skills of technical-vocational students and workers who aspire for quality job as operators in the country’s top electronics firms.
In a Memorandum of Agreement, TESDA and SEIPI said the fund would be used to “train existing workers in the industry and the pre-employment training and retooling of incoming workers in the semiconductor and electronics sector.” The agreement was signed on March 28 by Villanueva and SEIPI President Dan Lachica.
The program will run from April to November this year under TESDA’s Training for Work Scholarship Program. “TESDA’s partnership with SEIPI has achieved great strides in terms of training the youth and putting them to work,” Villanueva said. “We will continue to put premium on technical-vocational education and training so that we could harness the economic output of the semiconductor industry,” he added. The 5,172 scholars will undergo training under the program Level I Electronics Back-end Operators.
The scholars are taught 11 training modules on the basic aspects of Technical, Behavioral, and Manufacturing Systems and Standards. The latest batch of scholars will bring the total number of beneficiaries to 8,475. The first set of 2,404 beneficiaries took the training from October 2012 to May 2013 while the second batch of training from November to December 2013 produced 899 graduates. Both had at least 91 percent employment rates. “Training initiatives implemented by TESDA and SEIPI have been reaping fruits as can be seen by the number of graduates who have found work in various companies,” Villanueva said. SEIPI will tap the assistance of its member-companies for the conduct of the training based on the programs indicated in TESDA’s Qualification Map (QM).
The organization also committed to establish and maintain a Training Development Fund to be used for future training of existing workers, pre-employment and re-tooling of incoming workers in the semiconductor and electronics sector and for the promotion of training programs. At least 20 percent of the total training cost for each scholar hired will be set aside by SEIPI for this purpose.
The amount will be managed by SEIPI and will be utilized exclusively for the training of additional industry workers. SEIPI said it was also working with TESDA on the development of Training Regulations for the following courses: Semiconductor and Hard Disk Drive Frontline Operations; Semiconductor Electronics and Hard Disk Drive Production Line Backend Operations; Electronics Frontline Operations; Semiconductor, Electronics, and Hard Disk Drive Manufacturing Process Sustenance; Semiconductor, Electronics, and Hard Disk Drive Servicing, Repair and Maintenance; and, Laboratory Equipment and Test Operations. It also committed to introduce other TESDA programs, such as the Apprenticeship Program and the Dual Training System, to its member companies.
