NEARLY half of the 2,000 youth scholars from the four poor provinces in the country, found jobs after graduation, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) said on Monday.

Tesda, in a statement, said that a total of 906 out of the 2,001 youth have landed employment after they were assessed and certified by the agency.

The scholars, chosen from the provinces of Masbate, Antique, Agusan del Sur and Maguindanao, underwent intensive skills training under the joint program—Youth Employment and Migration of Tesda and International Labor Organization.

Of the scholars who completed the training, 1,904 were assessed and 1,407 were certified across various qualifications. A total of 1,492 youth were also provided post-training assistance.

“We are in partnership with local government units, other national government agencies, and nongovernment organizations that can assist us in the employment of graduates. Besides this, we have secured commitment from 93 companies for this program,” Tesda director general Joel Villanueva said.

Villanueva, meanwhile, expressed hope that the same intervention could be replicated in other provinces of the country that similarly need training for their youth.

“We can claim that the program has delivered success. We’re now focused on assisting the rest of the graduates who have not found employment,” he said.

The Tesda chief also said that the agency is conducting entrepreneurship development training programs in the four provinces to enable the youth to establish their own small businesses.

In addition to free training, Villanueva said that qualified youths were also be given tool kits for their start-ups.

“Self-employment is a good option for creating employment opportunities in the countryside where there are limited jobs in the wage employment sector,” he added.

Villanueva said that Tesda has finalized and rolled-out the gender-sensitivity curriculum and the manual to be used by the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) trainers in teaching gender-sensitivity among their students and trainees.

“Tesda has recently issued the circular rolling out the implementing guidelines and making gender-sensitivity a component of all TVET programs. We are very optimistic that very soon copies of the manual will be printed and distributed nationwide through the assistance of the UNFPA [United Nations Population Fund],” the Tesda chief added.