ITFP President, Mr. Jun Malacaman called it a historic event for the ICT industry as “assessment and certification has lagged behind in providing business and industry with an effective means of determining and ensuring the quality and competence of workers in the ICT area.”  ITFP is the umbrella organization representing the largest ICT associations in the country including the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), COMMDAP, Philippine Computer Society (PCS), Philippine Electronics and Telecommunications Federation (PETEF), Government Organization for IT (GO-IT), Philippine State Universities and Colleges Educations and Systems Society (PSUCCESS), Philippine Data Entry Corp. (PADEC), IT Association of the Philippines (ITAP), Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges, and Universities (PAPSCU), and the Information Systems Security Society of the Philippines (ISSSP).  Representatives of these organizations were present during the briefing on and signing of the MOA last week.

TESDA, on the other hand, is mandated by law to develop and upgrade the competence of the country’s industry workers and is one of the two government agencies that issue certificates of competencies, the other one being the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

Why do we have to assess and certify our ICT graduates? So that they can live up to the expectations of the industry and the employers here and abroad.  With the ITFP in the forefront of implementing a national program for assessment and certification as the National Assessment Board, TESDA is hopeful that the demand for 800,000 ICT workers by 2010 will be met.  They just didn’t say whether that demand will be here or abroad.

TESDA and ITFP have agreed to collaborate and jointly implement a competency assessment and certification program because they both believe that strengthening an industry-led assessment and certification program would result in the development of world-class and highly skilled middle level manpower that would help boost the country’s economy.  TESDA has previously done assessments through accredited assessors. But the volume of workers and graduates requiring assessment continues to grow that TESDA has seen it fit to appoint an Industry Working Group to carry out this function.  ITFP and TESDA has been working together for the past two and a half years on developing competency standards and were therefore the logical choice to take on the responsibility of being the National Assessment Board.

Under the Memorandum of Agreement, the ITFP shall be responsible for developing training regulations, including qualifications, competency standards, training standards, and assessment arrangements.  The ITFP shall also develop assessment tools and accredit assessment centers including assessors, subject to oversight and confirmation of TESDA.  However, TESDA will issue all certifications.

Applications for assessment and certification is open for those who want to be certified, including fresh graduates and those who are already employed.  According to Mila Dawa-Hernandez, TESDA Deputy Director General, there will be no limits to the number of times an applicant submits for assessment.  The cost of assessment has yet to be determined, as some factors will have to be considered in the computation but they gave an assurance that it would be reasonable.

At present, there are six existing standards for contact centers, medical transcriptions, programming, hardware, animation, and PC operations.  These competency standards have been sent to schools offering ICT-related programs and even before they graduate, the students can already apply for assessment according to the standards set.  Like the Professional Regulations Commission, TESDA will have the authority to close down schools and training centers that provide substandard education by using the results of assessment as a measure of school performance. 

Employed IT professionals, on the other hand, also stand to benefit from certification.  According to Malacaman, an IT professional who submits himself to assessment and certification will be able to determine his competency level against international standards.  “Getting a certification legitimizes their position, especially for those got promoted through the ranks and are not sure they have the competence.  For others, a certification will give them better marketability”, Malacaman said.

Asked how employers will benefit from having IT certified workers, this is what Malacaman had to say: “With certification, they can market their products better.  It is like having a certified licensed engineer if you’re a building contractor.  Your clients know that you have competent people and not just poorly paid clerks doing highly technical tasks.”  He pointed, however, that certification will not be as strictly regulated like a PRC requirement for employment but added that undergoing assessment and getting certification would become an advantage for job seekers, as they have a higher probability of being hired over a non-certified applicant.  Also, certification can lead to a promotion and can be used to determine wages.

There is also a Training Center Regulation Standards that includes the qualifications of teachers, facilities, and curriculum.  Training centers will be audited every two years and compliance certificates issued will be valid for five years.  The ITFP, under the Philippines-Australia Quality Technical Vocational Education and Training (PAQTVET) Project Phase II, has also recently developed additional competency standards for the ICT industry that will soon be the basis for schools and training institutions to develop more effective competency-based training and curriculum.

As the IWG and National Assessment Board, the ITFP is faced with the challenge promoting and advocating for assessment and certification and to convince both employers and employees to undertake certification as a means of confirming that their people have skills that are at par with national standards.

I once read a US-based Filipino’s post on his blog decrying the state of ICT education in the country stating that the skills of the country’s ICT graduates do not meet industry standards.  He made the comment after reviewing resumes sent by Filipino applicants to his employer in the US whose skills were way below US standards and whose knowledge of IT were short of obsolete.  I guess this MOA will answer his concern for our ICT workers.

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