The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority will train and retool over 9,000 workers in the semiconductor and electronic sectors to upgrade their skills and provide jobs to returning overseas Filipino workers.

MANILA, Philippines — A training and retooling program is now in place in the local semiconductor and electronic sectors.

The joint training project is defined in a memorandum of agreement between TESDA and Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI), the umbrella organization for the semiconductor and electronics industry.

TESDA has initially earmarked P50 million from its industry-based Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) to train and retool some 9,295 workers in the two sectors. Of the target beneficiaries, some 3,045 are existing workers while 6,250 are new entrants.

Under the agreement, SEIPI committed that six out of 10 graduates of the training program will have jobs within six months to one year after their graduation. TESDA will allocate scholarship vouchers worth P50 million to SEIPI as part of the public-private partnership to augment limited government resources and share expertise in delivering services to the public.

SEIPI, in turn, will distribute the vouchers to its member companies, tapping and engaging the services of the Advanced Research and Competency Development Institute (ARCDI) to undertake the training programs. TESDA will provide the venue within its training complex in Taguig City for the start-up programs.

Last year, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released a P300 million assistance package to the semiconductor and electronics industries after they were hit hard by the global trade slowdown. The funding will be granted through the Department of Science and Technology (DoST).

ADVANCED LABORATORY

The P300 million-assistance is for the construction of an Advanced Failure Analysis Laboratory that local manufacturers can use to test their products. Companies which do not have their own laboratories need not send their product samples abroad for testing. This will also shorten the turnaround time in product development and reduce costs.

Later on, the DoST will upgrade the Advanced Failure Analysis Laboratory into a Nanotechnology Testing Center with core facilities for nanometrology, solar cell testing, and failure analysis.

TESDA’s training and scholarship program adequately responds to President Aquino’s labor and employment agenda which aims to “invest in the formal and regular skills training and upgrading of our workers and utilize returning OFWs to conduct training so that they may transfer the skills they learned abroad.’’

For more information on TESDA programs and services, call 887-7777, send SMS message 09174794370 (Globe) 09182738232 (Smart) or follow us in Facebook (TESDA, Sec Joel Villanueva TESDA) and Twitter (SecJOELngTESDA).