THE Technical Education and Skills Authority (TESDA) is preparing for greater automation in the workplace by conducting an inventory of employers next year to survey how extensively they have adopted new processes.
In an interview with BusinessWorld, TESDA Director General for Policies and Planning Rosanna A. Urdaneta said that the agency is preparing for the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution by surveying company requirements.
“(TESDA will) come up with the inventory of companies on how far are we in terms of the automation and robotics so we may be able to sit down with these industries and come up with a curriculum with them,” Ms. Urdaneta said.
Ms. Urdaneta said TESDA has been challenged in obtaining equipment for training because of the rapid pace of technological obsolescence.
“Our major concern is that we are not responsive in terms of equipment but when we partner with industry, that is the time we will make use of their equipment to train people,” she stressed.
She added that the agency sent some staff to South Korea to train them for the requirements of greater automation.
“Some of our people in TESDA are already in South Korea… There is a specific course in South Korea, masters-level, in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” she said.
TESDA will also be conducting a workforce skills survey next year, focusing primarily on skills needed by all industries for the onset of greater automation. Ms. Urdaneta said that the agency will start with the construction and IT-BPO industries in 2019. — Gillian M. Cortez

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