The Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) signed a formal five-year partnership agreement on Thursday, August 24, to increase chances for training and skill upgradation of tourism professionals to fulfill post-pandemic business expectations.
As witnesses, DOT Undersecretaries Mae Elaine Bathan and Ferdinand Jumapao, TESDA Deputy Director Generals Vidal Villanueva III, Rosanna Urdaneta, and Aniceto Bertiz III, and Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco participated in the ceremonial signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).
Under the terms of the Memorandum of Agreement, the cooperating government bodies will work together to update and develop tourism-related Training Regulations (TRs), Competency Standards (CS), competency-based curricula (CBC), and Competency Assessment Tools (CATs) in accordance with new trends, emerging skills, and technologies; empower local communities by offering tourism scholarships; improve the employable skills of industry stakeholders through training in specific tourism skills; and collaborate in the imp
As a result, a joint technical working group made up of three officials from DOT and TESDA each will be established to manage the projects covered by the collaboration.
This partnership with the Department of Tourism will advance the objectives of our President’s vision for the transformation of the tourism industry, whose foundation and best asset are none other than the Filipino people, the secretary of tourism said in her keynote address. “I would like to extend my profound gratitude to TESDA led by the very active and dynamic Secretary Mangudadatu for this partnership with the Department of Tourism,” she said.
She continued, thanking the organization for making tourism a priority in their National Technical Education and Skills Development Plan. “This Memorandum of Agreement between TESDA and the DOT will further the development of our human capital in the Philippines, as well as empower individuals to contribute effectively to the recovery, resilience, innovation, and sustainability of the industry in the post-pandemic era,” she said.
The activities under the collaboration, according to the director of tourism, would also promote the administration’s goal of turning tourism into “a pivotal and reliable economic pillar for the Philippines fostering prosperity and enriching the lives of millions of Filipinos.”
“But we will not stop at training alone; after training the workers under this partnership, we will ensure that they are employable by capitalizing as well on our existing partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE),” she insisted.
The collaboration with the DOLE to organize the Trabaho, Turismo, Asenso: The 1st Philippine Tourism Job Fairs, which had provided more than 21,000 employment possibilities to tourism professionals, was one of Frasco’s first initiatives as director of tourism.
Director General Mangudadatu commended the DOT for working with TESDA on his behalf.
“I want to express my gratitude to Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco for joining us at this historic occasion. Another significant step in the growth and improvement of our tourism education will be marked by the signature of this Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Tourism, he said.
“Through this relationship, we will develop a top-notch tourist workforce and industry-competitive human resources. I am committing this relationship to the out-of-school youngsters, displaced tourists, and college graduates of the tourism program who will benefit from it, he continued.
The implementation of the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Agreement for Tourism Professionals and the revision and upgrading of training requirements for industry personnel are two other collaborations between the DOT and the TESDA.
Source- Travel daily
Link- https://www.traveldailymedia.com/dot-tesda-ink-deal-to-expand-tourism-education-reinforce-tourism-training-opportunities/