PIA | 499 Out-of-school youths in Ozamiz benefit from SCALA

499 Out-of-school youths in Ozamiz benefit from SCALA

By: Rutchie Cabahug-Aguhob

Friday 14th of March 2014

OZAMIZ CITY, Misamis Occidental, Mar. 14 (PIA) – At least 499 members of the Pag-Asa Youth Association of the Philippines (PYAP) benefited from the Sharing Computer Access Locally and Abroad (SCALA) Project in the city.

Of this number, 328 were females, 171 were males, of whom eight were persons with disabilities (PWD), Ludie Salud A. Raras, City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) Officer, said.

Likewise, 322 of them, 193 males, 129 females and a PWD, are already working, 96 have gone back to formal school while the rest are seeking for jobs in other places, Raras, said.

She also said most of the SCALA graduates have been hired as Encoders of the Community-Based Information Management System (CBMIS) of the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO).

Others have been referred to the different government agencies, such as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Public Employment and Services Office (PESO) for job opportunities.

Implemented by the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) of Canada and the Local Government Unit (LGU), the SCALA Project is handled by the City Youth Information and Communication Technology Training Center for Out-of-School Youths (OSY) and Youth With Disabilities (YWD).

Under the SCALA Project, an OSY-beneficiary undergoes a 10-month training program in computer operations that would prepare him/her for job opportunities, not only for domestic employment, but also abroad.

Meanwhile, she said the SCALA Project receives an annual budget of Php320,000 from the LGU for the operations of the training center. (RCA/PIA10-Misamis Occidental)