By DANNY O. SAGUN
By PIA Dagupan Infocenter

THE demand for welders here and abroad remains high even as training institutions in the province could not cope with the demand, a supervisor of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) said Tuesday.

The training centers authorized by Tesda - PSAT in Lingayen, Luciano Millan in Asingan, Philgerma in Calasiao and the Tesda training center at the Capitol compound- only produce an average of 25 trainees per batch per school, according to engineer Jovencio Ferrer.

Ferrer told the Pantongtongan Tayo radio program of the Philippine Information Agency over Radyo ng Bayan DZMQ that a welder’s pay remains competitive at P400 to P500 a day here in the country and up to P60,000 to P70,000 a month abroad.

Training at the centers is based on competence of the trainee, who may finish the short term course in just a few weeks or shorter than the prescribed period.

A welding course costs P17,000 while a caregiving course costs P15,000, quite a big amount for poor families to afford.

Tesda thus entered into an agreement with local government units and also congressional districts to fund scholarships under the I-care program, he said. All a municipality or congressman needs to do is to set aside amounts equivalent to the fund from Tesda, say P1 million or P2 million, to train local residents
interested or qualified to learn the skills..

“Tatapatan lang nila yong amount galing ng Tesda,” (They just provide a counterpart fund to Tesda’s) he said.

He urged the sponsoring government offices to properly screen applicants for the various training courses for them to become productive later.

“Sayang lang kung kahit sino lang ang ipadala nila na hindi naman angkop sa pagsasanay na kinakailangan,” he noted.