Primary Structures Educational Foundation, Inc.

SKILLS Technical Director, Engr. Steve Y. Banzon, attended the Industrial Solutions Seminar of Grundfos, a known multi-national pumps manufacturer of  various types of  water pumps, from manufacturing plants and industrial buildings. Grundfos pumps are engineered to cover a broad range of applications and offers feature choices from fixed speed plug and pump sets to highly sophisticated systems for integration. The training covered topics on pumps set up and installation held on May 11, 2018 at Bayfront Hotel, Cebu City. SKILLS hopes to collaborate with Grundfos for the development of Competency-Based Learning Materials (CBLM) on Advanced Plumbing Training intended for its AFOS Plus Project, as well as future deployment of the AFOS trainees on pumps set up and installation.

To explore about SKILLS curriculum particularly on construction labor upskilling, the team from the Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter (TCIS) of Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) headed by Mr. Scott Merrill, Director for Market Systems and Entrepreneurship headquarters in Atlanta and Jennifer Oomen, Associate Director for Asia Pacific visited PSEFI-SKILLS last  May 31 , 2018 from 10:00am to 12:00nn. The meeting provided the team with better understanding of the dynamic nature of construction labor market in Cebu – its market trends, challenges, opportunities and the possibility of future collaboration with SKILLS. TCIS of HFHI aims to catalyze both the demand and supply side of the affordable housing market to achieve a vibrant housing ecosystem in the Philippines. To accomplish this, HFHI will focus on improving access to products, services, and financing so that low-income households can access improved housing. Recently, the Centre has conducted ...

The Social Welfare Development – Learning Network (SWD – LNET) under the Standard Unit of the Department of Social Welfare and Development conducted a 2-day Seminar on Case Management for Community-Cluster held on May 24-25, 2018 at the University of Southern Philippines Foundation, Lahug, Cebu City. Essential elements and processes on case management were thoroughly discussed. The said seminar was seen important to Registered and Licensed Social Welfare and Development Agencies (SWDAs) ensuring that beneficiaries receive services that are complementary to their needs. Licensed NGOs and Foundations providing social welfare services must ensure strict compliance on case management that foster not only dependency but instill empowerment among the people. A total of 16 member agencies participated in the workshop. PSEFI-SKILLS Executive Director, Dr. Maritess H. Requina, along with its Social Worker Ms. Carolyn M. Sulad attended the seminar.

Manny Moreno was one of the 128 housekeeping graduates of PSEFI-SKILLS last 2014.   After the training, he was initially absorbed as on-call performing as cleaner reliever to different PGB projects.   Because of his utmost performance, he was hired as full-time housekeeping attendant by PSEFI in 2015.   Manny has been working in Garden Bloom Villa of Primary Homes Inc. for four (4) years.    Family Background – Manny was born in a remote town of Surigao with his father working as a fisherman and his mother as a housewife.   His parents were blessed to have eight children including Manny as the fifth child.    As a little boy then, Manny witnessed how difficult for his parents to provide their needs.   He started to dream that someday, he will provide a quality living and a better future for his family.   With this mindset, Manny persevered in assisting his parents for a living.   He even learned to catch fish just a...

Graduation is one of the most important milestone in one’s life. It marks both an end and a beginning to a journey. SKILLS concluded its 1 st Commencement Exercises with a theme: “K to 12 Learners Ready to Face Life’s Challenges” held on April 12, 2018 at CAP Building, Jones Avenue, Cebu City. The first batch of SHS TVL graduates were composed of 125 students in Home Economics and Industrial Arts. One of the messages delivered by Dr. Bianito Dagatan, DepEd Schools Superintendent Cebu City Division, he underscored that the K to 12 graduates are now ready to explore the many opportunities outside of school: Handa sa Kolehiyo; Handa sa Trabaho; Handa sa Negosyo and soon to be Handa sa Pamilya. But he discourages the latter to give more priority in honing their skills, abilities and values in order to be ready in the face of competition. Dr. Dagatan likewise stressed the importance of setting specific goals and shared a simple technique to be successful in the world of work. The k...

  A total of 60 SM Foundation scholars recently graduated from SKILLS in Cebu City. The scholarship provided by SM Foundation is in line with its mission of helping underprivileged but deserving high school graduates pursue college education. SM Foundation honored its commitment to assist financially-constrained students with their education by strengthening its Technical-Vocational Scholarship Program. The program is part of its contribution to the government in reducing the education gap and providing thousands of underprivileged youth a formal, if not technical-vocational education, for them to become productive citizens of the communities where they belong.

The  Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) together with the members of the private sector has formalized a partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) to support classroom-building efforts through “Bayanihang Pampaaralan” (BP) that was launched in 2011. BP is an initiative of the 57-75 Movement pushing for the construction of 10,000 classrooms  in two years . It aims to consolidate classroom building efforts and direct funds to the construction of classrooms in areas that need the most assistance. The project encourages coordination of private sector efforts in education to help avoiding duplication of efforts and to rationalize funding for projects. From the experience, BP discovered that providing classrooms is not sufficient to meet desired its outcomes like improvement in academic performance so the consortium decided to rethink and expand its focus, and specify a focus intervention with focused results. The focus has now shifted to the senior hig...