BAGUIO CITY – The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) announced that it is ready to provide free skills training of their choice to fully rehabilitated drug surrenderees to help them have a source of income and integrate back into society.
TESDA Director-General Guiling Mamondiong said they are coordinating with the health department and the social welfare offices on how to implement the system that will guarantee the provision of skills to the interested surrenderees wanting to learn skills.
“We are ready to provide the desired skills training to our drug surrenderees but they must be fully rehabilitated so that it will be easier for them to be brought back to mainstream society. We have the available slots for interested drug surrenderees because it is part of our functions to help bring back the vibrancy of the surrenderees by being productive in their chosen fields,” Mamondiong stressed.
The TESDA official claimed the agency will also be providing the surrenderees the appropriate career coaching to guide them in the selection of skills they want to be enrolled in.
According to him, barangay officials must strictly monitor the compliance of the surrenderees to their commitments to abandon their involvement in the illegal drug trade and support them in their desire to acquire the needed skills which they can use for livelihood sources.
He added one of the primary conditions imposed by the agency before providing the drug surrenderees with skills training is for them to present a certification from the accredited health official that they had been fully rehabilitated and that they are fit to undergo the training.
After having completed their chosen skills training, the trained drug surrenderers will then be required to undergo the assessment for them to be issued a national certification for their acquired competency which they could use in putting up their own businesses or having gainful employment locally or overseas.
He explained provincial and regional TESDA offices are authorized to facilitate the conduct of free skills training to interested and fully rehabilitated drug surrenderees in their respective areas of jurisdiction so that they will have easier access to the programs and projects being offered by the government and assist their integration into mainstream society.
He claimed the Duterte administration is aggressive in the implementation of its anti-drug campaign but it also wants those involved in the illegal drug trade to reform and become productive citizens of their communities.
By HENT
