TESDA Women's Center Offering Training for Household Service Workers

In 16 December 2006, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) thru the POEA has implemented the new protection and welfare enhancement reforms for the recruitment and deployment of Household Service Workers (HSWs). One the reforms include requiring higher competency standards for pre-qualification of the workers through the possession of an HSW National Certification from TESDA. This certification aims to make workers move into the higher end of the labor market in terms of salary, skills proficiency, and language and culture orientation.

For its part, TESDA, through the PGMA Training for Work Scholarship Programs, has included the Household Services NC II in its roster of training programs offered to be conducted for free with the TESDA Women's Center (TWC) as the first and model institution to undertake it. The qualified scholars are entitled to scholarship certificates of PhP 5,000 each for a training period of 1 ½ months. After completion of training, they are required to undergo the competency assessment, the passers of which shall achieve the HSW NC II qualification. This certification will attest to the possession of the four HSW core competencies namely: house cleaning, laundry and ironing, preparing hot and cold meals, and providing food and beverage services.

To ensure that the HSW graduates would be able to define their worth and value as a person, the TWC has included in the program the training on gender sensitivity which primarily provides awareness on gender issues and women's rights. This module would pave the way for them to be sensitive to possible malpractices, abuses and exploitation that maybe committed against them by their employers. There is also another important additional module on work ethics and values development to help them develop a strong foundation of personal work values and enable them to understand the dynamics of human growth and development.

TWC's first run of HSW training has started on March 12, 2007 with 26 trainees who are set to get immediate employment after the training. The TWC is targeting to train 1,000 HSWs for this year. Enrollment is ongoing for the next batch of HSW.