Government to implement gender-sensitive technical skills education

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will soon offer a gender-sensitivity training curriculum.

The UN agency recently gave a grant of $89,083 to carry out the plan, which is under the Joint Programme on Youth Employment and Migration (YEM).

"Tesda has opened a wider venue for women, making available variety of courses that they can enroll in, including those previously thought to be only for men. But much more needs to be done and we are continuously working on it," Tesda Director General Joel Villanueva said.

Under the agreement, Tesda has agreed to finalize and reproduce gender-sensitive modules and training materials, which will include training tools on sexually-transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS.

The agency will also roll-out the developed curriculum and materials in the Training of Trainers that will be conducted in the technical-vocational education institutions in the four target provinces of the YEM project.

These are Antique, Masbate, Agusan Del Sur and Maguindanao.

Villanueva said at least 20,000 technical vocational education and training (TVET) trainers across the country are expected to benefit from the project once the materials are completely rolled-out.

The first batch of trainers' training will be held in Iloilo City from July 18 to 22 for the provinces of Masbate and Antique.

By Virgil Lopez