1994 is a significant year for both Technical Education Skills Development Authority and Dualtech Training Center. It is the founding year of TESDA through a law that mandates all training institutions to help prepare Philippine workforce. For Dualtech Center, it is the time when the Philippine government recognized through a law the dual- training system which Dualtech pioneered in 1982.
The story of Basilan scholars
The island province of Basilan is located just off the southern coast of the Zamboanga Peninsula. It is the largest island of the Sulu Archipelago. Basilan is a third-class province in terms of gross provincial income. And, ranked 20 among the Philippines’ 80 provinces in terms of incidences of poverty.
True to its word to “serve the fringes of society”, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) visited Basilan to campaign for students for scholarship and presented Dualtech as an option. It was quite easy to convince young men to enrol at Dualtech; to escape from poverty. Financial problems being the cause for dropping out of school is repeated often in Basilan.
The Department of Education, City of Naga ALS Division invited Dualtech Center to offer technical training for its ALS learners from Naga, and Carcar Cities in Cebu to help them become employment-ready. The learners had undergone Alternative Learning System (ALS) education program which is designed for those who have no access to formal education.
ABS-CBN Corporate Services Group and Innovation Team conducted a one-day Design Thinking Workshop for Dualtech associates. This project was initiated by ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya to help Dualtech respond better to current and future challenges.
Mark Nepomuceno, Head of ABS-CBN Corporate Services, shared that this tool is used by ABS-CBN “Globally, Design Thinking ang ginagamit. It is a way of looking at challenges and issues so that mahanapan ng opportunity na hindi kadalasang nahahanapan ng iba. It will be a fun workshop.”
The Ethiopian Federal TVET Agency, Federal TVET Institute of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education visited Dualtech Center for the institutional benchmarking to develop its human resources following the academe and industry collaboration. The study tour also aimed to help the Ethiopian Government to address the domestic challenges and problems for social and economic development through quality skills training.
Solving poverty by bridging the gap between available jobs and skill deficiency, Angat- Buhay program, the flagship anti- poverty program of the Office of the Vice- President (OVP), arranged the Vice President’s visit to Dualtech Training Center last April 4, 2019.
A milestone for Dualtech Center, the visit opened discussions among stakeholders and various industrial- manufacturing firms, to coordinate on necessary skills development program for the youth from different regions in the country with high poverty incidence and unemployment rate.
