TESDA and ILO to launch IT training program for women

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) will launch a program that aims to help women gain quality employment in jobs in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Called the Women in STEM Workforce Readiness and Development Program, the program will be launched for 200 female students in the Information Technology (IT) field.

ILO director Khalid Hassan has pointed out that in the Philippines only a small number of women choose to train in IT due to "cultural biases on career opportunities in the field where women have a high potential to get quality jobs."

"The program seeks to provide women with demand-led technical STEM-related skills and employability along with enterprise-level leadership training to help them overcome challenges that reduce their entry, retention and advancement in STEM industries such as the Information-Technology Business Process Management (IT-BPM)," Hassan said in a press release on Sunday.

TESDA, for its part, will provide scholarship vouchers for the pilot training of 125 women in animation, game development and software development at Human Resource Development Institute (HRDI) and selected private sector training providers.

TESDA director general Guiling Mamondiong is urging women to join the program as the HRDI is currently looking for females who are interested to take up a course in animation and game development

Mamondiong added that the training would ensure employment assistance to companies in need of workers in the field.

The program will begin in June. — Anna Felicia Bajo/BM, GMA News