TESDA Skills Olympics is back

For a while, TESDA gave scant attention to the conduct of skills competitions in favor of scholarships and training for work assistance programs.

Under its enabling law, TESDA is mandated to promote quality skills development through the annual National Skills Olympics, participated in by private industries.

TESDA’s new leadership is reviving all that. Last month, Secretary Joel Villanueva, TESDA Director General, ordered the restaging of the Philippine National Skills Competition (PNSC) next year, and the preparation for the Philippine participation in the 9th ASEAN Skills Competition (ASC IX) to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia in November, 2012.

Tasked is a national organizing committee chaired by lawyer Teodoro Pascua, TESDA deputy director general for field operations. He will be assisted by executive directors Teodoro Sanico of the Office TESDA Training Institutions (OTTI), Gabriel Bordado of the Competency Assessment and Certification Office (CACO), Pilar de Leon of the Office of the Chief of Services for Administration (OCSA), and all TESDA regional directors.

BEGINNINGS OF SKILLS COMPETITIONS

Vocational skills competitions in the Philippines started in 1968 when the then Philippine College of Arts and Trades (PCAT), now Technological University of the Philippines (TUP) in Manila, conducted a skills competition among its students.

Inspired by the results of these skills contests, the Delta Motors Corporation conducted in 1978 the Toyota Dealers National Service Skills Competition among its service mechanics and technicians.

In the same year, the Philippine government sent an observer team from the former National Manpower and Youth Council (NMYC) to the 24th International Vocational Training Competitions (IVTC) in Pusan, South Korea. The IVTC later became the International Youth Skills Competition (IYSO). Today, it is now known as the World Skills Competition (WSC).

The team later recommended that NMYC exercise leadership in the conduct of skills olympics in the country to promote its skills testing and certification program.

Three years later, the NMYC in collaboration with Delta Motors Corporation conducted the First National Youth Skills Olympics (NYSO).

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS

The PNSC is a national competition that recognizes excellent skilled workers and graduates of technical-vocational schools and training centers.

It highlights series of local, provincial, sectoral, and regional contests held nationwide. Winners undergo further training to prepare them for the international skills competitions like the ASEAN Skills Competition and the WorldSkills Competition.

In 1995, 12 Filipino skilled workers and graduates of technical-vocational institutions competed in the First ASEAN Skills Competition (ASC) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The team went home with two gold medals in turning, one gold medal each in ladies’ dressmaking and carpentry, one bronze medal each for carpentry and automotive mechanic, and a diploma of excellence in electric welding.

In July 1997, at the 34th International Youth Skills Olympics (IYSO) in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Gerrelen Diaz from Iloilo was awarded the bronze medal in the ladies’ dressmaking competition. Competitors Dennis Rosales (welding) and Bienvenido Balbin (refrigeration technique) both received a diploma of excellence for exceeding standards set for their respective trades.

Today, the skills olympics fever is back. Soon, young and skilled Filipino workers will again show the world that they have what it takes to be competitive and world-class workers.

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