Jayson Leonor Juvida has been working out of the country for 15 years now. First in Japan as a machinist; and now as a machinist, valve technician AND valve greasing supervisor in Saudi Arabia. How did he do it? With a positive attitude, the lessons he learned from Food for the Hungry, and Tech Voc.
Beyond Manual Labor
“When I graduated high school, my parents didn’t have the money to send me to college. I understood our situation, which was why I took vocational courses,” Jayson said.
Technical Vocation or Tech Voc by UNESCO definition is “designed for learners to acquire the knowledge, skills and competencies specific to a particular occupation, trade, or class of occupations or trades.” The shortened courses make Tech Voc an accessible alternative to tertiary or college education for those who –at the moment- are struggling financially or want to join the workforce after graduating from high school to help their families.
Good as it sounds, Tech Voc comes with the stigma of only offering manual labor jobs. This could not be further from the truth. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) currently offers hundreds of courses ranging from Agriculture and Fishery to Digital Animation to Business Management and Health Care.As an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), TESDA has 183 Technology Institutions, 250 public technical vocational education and training (TVET) providers, and 4,197 privately- run tech voc institutions implementing more than 17,000 programs. TESDA is among the largest learning networks in the country addressing the persisting problem of skills-job mismatch. TVET also offers diploma courses which help learners upgrade their qualifications and eventually land supervisory responsibilities.
Job-Ready Track
Before his success story, Jayson was a former FH-child with big dreams. When he was able, he took two courses- Electrical Technology and Machining NC-1- from Jacobo Z. Gonzales Memorial School of Arts and Trades in Biñan Laguna.
“FH helped me get to know the Lord and taught me to persevere,” he shared. “When there are challenges like poverty and hopelessness when you are away from your family, I hold on to my faith and God’s promises to overcome these.”
He says he looks for ‘God’s instruments’ that can help him grow. In his sharing with FH children during the 2022 National Children’s Month celebration, he encouraged them to take advantage of opportunities such as TESDA assessments and certifications to increase employability.
In fact, the 2022 Study on the Employment of TVET Graduates showed that 8 out of 10 TVET graduates get hired. Even the advocacy group Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) championed for business leaders and industry stakeholders to explore hiring options in TVET to decrease unemployment and underemployment.
TVET can also be an avenue for upskilling and reskilling, either before or after pursuing a college degree. The Philippine Credit Transfer System, introduced by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and TESDA, allows Tech Voc students and graduates to earn college degree credits for subjects they have already taken to reinforce the idea of skills mastery and life-long learning.
Ready for the 21st Century
Apart from hard skills, Jayson also advises to develop soft and social skills especially when you are in a foreign country. It also helps to “update” one’s tech-know-how to cope with the demands of the 4th industrial revolution. This is to highlight human-intensive skills that will lessen the risk of being replaced by automation and AI.
In today’s world of work, 21st Century Skills such as communication, environmental literacy, digital literacy, language literacy are essential – and these are integrated in Tech Voc courses too.
On top of in-person classes, TESDA recently launched the TESDA Online Program (TOP) for the already tech-savvy. It is a web-based platform that offers 151 free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
“Study well, do well while studying and you’ll get work fast. In my experience, employers abroad now look for TESDA certification especially if they are looking for skilled workers.”
