MANILA — Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo on Sunday urged high school graduates who wish to pursue vocational courses to consider training in world-class automotive servicing, which he said will likely provide them lucrative employment as well as business opportunities.
“Automotive servicing is in great demand. Graduates of the post-secondary technical course are assured of gainful jobs in a booming industry. Or they could put up their own service shops,” said Romulo, chairman of the House committee on higher and technical education.
Boosted by low interest rates and a rapidly growing middle class, vehicle sales in the country hit 169,727 units from January to September this year, up 29.2 percent from 131,381 units in the same nine-month period of 2013.
The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. sees vehicle sales hitting 300,000 in 2015.
Romulo said the Toyota Motor Philippines School of Technology, or TMP Tech, is now accepting applicants for a two-year automotive servicing course.
Applicants must be high school graduates, at least 16 years old and pass the TMP Tech Admission Examination.
The school is based at the Toyota Special Economic Zone in Santa Rosa City, Laguna.
“Applicants need only to submit an accomplished TMP Techapplication form, two ID pictures and pay a P200 application fee,” Romulo said.
Applicants may visit TMP Tech’s website at www.tmptech.edu.ph for more details.
Romulo said graduates of TMP Tech’s automotive servicing course will likely enjoy preferential hiring for deployment to Toyota’s production and servicing facilities here and abroad.
The lawmaker said high school graduates may also seek training in automotive servicing at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Makati City.
“Don Bosco also has a high-quality, two-semester course for those who wish to become automobile mechanics,” he said.
Romulo said the state-run Technical and Education SkillsDevelopment Authority (TESDA) likewise offers short courses ranging from Automotive Servicing National Certificate (NC) Levels 1 to 4.
The four programs run from a minimum of 288 hours for NC Level 1 to a minimum of 476 hours for NC Level 4.