Senator Win Gatchalian stated on November 23 that senior high school students taking the Technical-Vocational Livelihood track must undergo the free assessments for the national certifications, in order to boost their employability.
Gatchalian, chairperson for the Senate Committee on Basic Education, further added that these certifications were already allocated in the 2024 national budget.
A total of P438.162 million was allotted under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Regulatory Program this fiscal year, but Gatchalian reported that NC assessment has remained non-mandatory for SHS-TVL learners.
This concern was raised during the discussion for TESDA’s proposed 2025 budget. A total of P496.6 million was allotted for the free assessment and certification of SHS-TVL learners for the next fiscal year.
The original target for this fiscal year 2024 was to have 420,967 TVL graduates who were certified. Out of that number, only 1,039 learners took the assessment. As of November 5, 2024, only 926 from that number had passed the assessments and were certified.
Gatchalian had previously supported the 2024 budget for the Grade 12 TVL students assessment. This was due to the certification rates in previous school years- where TVL graduates only had a 25.7% rate in the School Year 2019-2020, and had dropped to 6.8% during SY 2020-2021, mid-pandemic.
Both TESDA and the Department of Education are in talks to employ a joint memorandum circular to institute the mandatory NC assessment for SHS-TVL learners, targeting 197,077 learners for certification in 2025.
While lower than the 2024 target, TESDA stated that they will take into account graduates from previous school years to improve the certification rate.
“I fully support the mandatory assessment of our senior high school learners in the TVL track and I look forward to the signing of the joint memorandum circular that will operationalize it. I truly believe that this program is a game-changer for our students so they can get decent jobs,” said Gatchalian.
