Ten mobile training laboratories (MTLs) were turned over by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to its regional offices on Monday.

The TESDA said these mobile labs would help boost the skills training program, especially in far-flung areas. Each trailer contains tools and other training packages.

The MTLs, TESDA Director General Danilo Cruz said, shows the agency’s commitment to providing skills and livelihood programs to Filipinos nationwide.

The 10 MTLs are for Cordillera Administrative Region, Caraga, and Regions 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12.

Beneficiaries were identified considering conflict-affected communities, disaster-prone provinces and provinces with high poverty incidence, the TESDA said.

Over 6,000 are expected to graduate yearly from the following coursing the MTL offers: Photovoltaic Systems Installation NC II, Bread & Pastry Production NC II, Food Processing NC II, Organic Agricultural Production NC II, Carpentry NC II, Plumbing NC II, Electrical Installation Maintenance NC II and Agricultural Crop Production NC II.

“We, in TESDA, are one with the current administration’s thrust to reduce the poverty rate in the country. We aim to reach disenfranchised youth failing to reach the doorsteps of a tech-voc school and give them learning and economic empowerment,” Deputy Director General Aniceto Bertiz III said in a statement.

Meanwhile, 16 service vehicles were also turned over to select regional and provincial TESDA offices in the National Capital Region, Regions 3, 4-A, Mountain Province, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, Palawan, Sorsogon, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Samar, Zamboanga del Norte, Bukidnon, Davao de Oro, North Cotabato and Agusan del Sur.

These vehicles would boost the offices’ capability to provide speedy service, TESDA said. (PNA)