Filipinos queue up to enrol for IT training Monday, 23 August 2010 06:20

DOHA: Success stories about computer literate Filipinos improving their status in work places have driven other countrymen to enrol at the computer training programme of the Philippine Overseas Labour Office-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA).

A fresh batch of 300 trainees that listed for the six-month computer training programme was the biggest among the six batches which prompted Western Union to donate 10 more new computers in a simple turn over and Iftar party at the POLO-OWWA grounds.

The turn over event was graced by Patricia Ringeen, Senior Vice President for Western Union Philippines and Indochina, together with Philippine Ambassador to Qatar Crescente Relacion and Labour Attaché Ricardo Sodusta.

The computers would benefit many students to enhance their training since these are equipped with Core 2 Dou processors, running Windows 7, packed with Microsoft Office 2007 and a flat screen monitor.

Danilo Flores, POLO-OWWA welfare officer and in-charge of the training programme, said the demand for students has increased after word had spread all over the Filipino community about the testimonies of those whose lives have improved after hurdling the training during the culmination ceremonies last June.

Flores said the old computers donated by Western Union in 2008 will be upgraded soon and another company has already committed to sponsor 25 more computers to accommodate the growing number of trainees attending the daily and weekend classes.

POLO-OWWA is planning to include stranded domestic helpers seeking refuge inside the compound to undergo the computer literacy training before they would be repatriated home.

The training programme is held in two phases—basic for word processing and other simple Microsoft Office applications and advance courses like PC assembly, web-design fundamentals which will last for six months each. Flores said the training is offered free of charge and prospective students should only present documents that show about their OWWA membership.

The average pass rate is high at 80 percent even as the trainees were dropped from the roll after incurring three successive absences in classes.

He added training mentors has volunteered for their services “for the love of teaching” even as they came from teaching jobs in prestigious schools and computer learning centres.

The Peninsula

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