House bill prods TESDA to offer 'future-ready' courses to benefit jobseekers

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) can help address the Philippines' widening jobs mismatch by offering "future-ready" courses focused on harnessing the digital skills of the country's workforce.

- By ELLSON QUISMORIO

For this purpose, Parañaque City 2nd district Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan filed House Bill (HB) No.4037, which sought to expand the programs offered by TESDA to cover digital skills and emerging technologies.

Yamsuan said these include courses on artificial intelligence (AI), software development and coding, game design, cybersecurity, digital marketing, robotics and 3D printing.

"In this digital age, the labor market is constantly evolving. We need to make sure that our labor force can always catch up by mandating TESDA to broaden its accredited course offerings to include programs that would arm our workers with 'future-ready' skills," said the solon.