GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 20 Dec) – The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has revoked the registration of a technical-vocational (tech-voc) school here and ordered its perpetual disqualification from the government’s scholarship programs due to alleged cases of “ghost trainings and trainees.”
Rafael Abrogar II, TESDA-Region 12 director, said they received an order from their central office directing the immediate implementation of multiple sanctions against the school in connection with the uncovered irregularities.
He said the order was issued by TESDA Director General Isidro Lapeña, as recommended by their national inspectorate for scholarship programs.
Abrogar declined to name the erring tech-voc school and the other specific details of the case, noting that the agency has yet to formally inform those concerned about the order.
“This is final and executory. We will communicate with the [TESDA] provincial director then start with the proceedings,” he said in a press conference in Koronadal City on Thursday.
The official explained that the uncovered cases of “ghost trainees” involved the reporting to the agency of non-existent trainees and scholars, and even issuing them with training certificates.
He said another case is the reporting of trainees as graduates even though they only enrolled and were not able to complete the training.
The “ghost trainings” were also reported to TESDA but they never happened and the erring schools just forged the attendance sheets of the supposed trainees, he said.
Aside from the revocation of the school’s registration and disqualification from the scholarship programs, Abrogar said they will also revoke its tech-voc programs and the accreditation certificates of the involved trainers and assessors.
“[TESDA] will not pay for the scholarship grants previously allotted to the school and we will delist them from our national, regional and provincial list of registered programs,” he said.
Aside from the erring school here, Abrogar said three other institutions under the jurisdiction of the Sarangani/General Santos provincial office are being investigated for similar violations.
He said they were still awaiting the results of the random assessment conducted by the agency among schools in other areas in Region 12.
The region covers the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and North Cotabato, and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong and Kidapawan.
Abrogar said the uncovering of the violations and the ongoing investigation shows that TESDA, including the regional office, is serious in cleansing the irregularities in its scholarship programs.
“This should serve as warning to the other public and private training institutions that are possibly engaged in similar activities,” he added. (MindaNews)
