Trainers Program For IT-BPO

.MANILA, Philippines - To haul in US$25 billion revenues in four years, the government and the private sector yesterday launched a P25.2-million trainers' training program to help teachers serving the information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) sector. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) allocated 900 vouchers worth P18 million for Trainers Methodology (TM) Plus and 804 vouchers worth P7.2 million for TM 1, a first-generation version of the course. The TESDA and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) jointly developed the trainers' training program for IT-BPOs. TM Plus is part of a series of educational programs developed under the P500-million funding for the Industry-based Training for Work Scholarship Program (I-TWSP). The latter is a key component of the IT-BPO industry's Road Map 2016 to increase total industry generated jobs from 1.8 million in 2010 (500,000 direct and 1.3 million indirect) to 4.5 million in 2016 (1.3 million direct and 3.2 million indirect). "TM Plus ensures a pool of highly competent IT-BPO trainers. Those who have completed the training will train the next batch of trainers, achieving a multiplier effect that will increase IT-BPO-oriented training opportunities," TESDA director-general Joel Villanueva explained. The entire program is divided into two parts. The first covers IT-BPO orientation and instruction via classroom and e-learning sessions. The second is allotted for internship, where trainees co-facilitate TM Plus in an IT-BPO facility. Afterwards, trainees are assessed via tools developed by Philippine Society for Training and Development (PSTD) as well as TESDA's TM 1 National Assessment. Corresponding certificates are issued upon qualification. "Being a world-class IT-BPO employee is more than having communication skills. It's also about right attitude and high level of competency," stressed BPAP president and CEO Benedict Hernandez. "This is why we need standardized training programs." TM Plus scholarship vouchers will be available through selected technical vocational institutions (TVIs) in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The University of Makati, the principal partner TVI in the National Capital Region, received 600 scholarship vouchers for the TM Plus program. TESDA's IT-BPO training programs are designed to develop and increase the number of qualified hires. The course outline includes sessions such as facilitating learning sessions and discussions; using electronic media in trainings; electronic learning applications; blended learning techniques; classroom management; conducting competency assessments; supervising work-based learning; and application of skills and knowledge through an internship. The first batch of TESDA-accredited trainers that completed the TM 1 program are training the TM Plus trainees. They include 12 trainers from Aegis, one of the global IT-BPO providers operating in the country. .