Tesda ready to help displaced OFWs

THE TECHNICAL Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) said it is ready to assist over a million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who may be affected by the economic slowdown in the Middle East.

Tesda Director General Irene Isaac said her agency could offer displaced workers free competency assessment and certification, technical-vocational training as well as skill retooling to help them land new jobs.

“We have to see to it that our countrymen end up more confident with their capabilities than they were before, and are even more qualified to find work,” Isaac said in a statement over the weekend.

Quoting Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) estimates, Isaac said around

1.7 million documented OFWs may be displaced in the Middle East because of the oil price slump that is affecting the region.

Early this month, Migrante’s Saudi Arabia chapter claimed around 50,000 OFWs in the country would be displaced by March.

According to Isaac, Tesda was able to assist 890 OFWs last year, mostly through its free Training for Work Scholarship Program and Special Training for Employment Program.

She said access to Tesda’s services will be made easier through the 18 Assist WELL (Welfare, Employment, Legal and Livelihood) Centers nationwide and the e-Assist WELL database system.

The Tesda chief said DOLE’s Assist WELL program even provides returning OFWs free food or accommodations, job placement and referral, business loan assistance and legal counseling.

She said there were enough job vacancies in the local and international markets to absorb displaced workers.