A FEW hours before the live telecast of what is said to be the most celebrated fight of the century—Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown slated today at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas—BusinessMirror contributing photographer Suzanne June Perante has been preparing not her camera but an oven to bake her favorite Swiss roll and cheese buns as intended snacks while watching the long-awaited rumble on screen—a perfect time to share the products of her newly learned skills in baking breads and pastries.
The incoming BA Communications freshman at the University of the Philippines in Baguio City found it productive to spend her four-month summer break (before first semester starts in August this year) baking cakes and pastries.
“I love both Red Ribbon and Goldilocks, including Gardenia products. I should know how cakes, breads and pastries are done even on a mere hand-made method so I can bake my own version any time I crave for them,” she explained.
After 141 hours, or 18 days, of skills and competency training in Breads and Pastry Production at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) training center, housed at the Southern Isabela College of Arts and Trades (Sicat) in Santiago City, Isabela, Suzanne June and 19 others expect to be issued a National Certificate after passing a competency assessment.
Preparing, decorating and storing bakery or pastry products were among the skills imbibed into the minds of the trainees.
Era Agustin, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who worked in Hong Kong, returned home to invest her earnings from overseas and has decided to train in baking breads and pastries at Tesda-Sicat.
“I believe that my professional training in baking cakes and breads under Tesda would provide me not only a certificate but the real know-how should I intend to put up even a tiny bakeshop business to start with,” Agustin said.
Secondary-school teacher Mylene Espiritu who teaches Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) at the Children’s First School in the city, said she wanted to upgrade her baking skills to enhance the subject for her students.
“In a fast-changing world, baking subjects are some of the most interesting ones because they entail very challenging food processing,” Espiritu said.
Like Suzanne June, Biology sophomore Diana Rachel Navarro, also of UP-Baguio, finds it practical to engage in a skills training in baking her favorite rolls and pastries the Tesda way while on leave from her academic classes.
“It is more fun actually while I am in the process of baking my breads or cakes. I can feel how mutually my body and mind work. Otherwise, it would result into an overdone product,” said Navarro between smiles.
Also an incoming Medical Technology freshman at the University of La Sallete in the city, Mary Beth dela Cruz of San Agustin, Isabela, finds the baking course a wholesome activity during the summer break.
“I love cakes and pastries, too, so I spend so much for favorites. It is precisely the reason I enrolled in the baking course,” Mary Beth said.
Ben Michael Manaligod, who intends to run a catering business in the city, has decided to enroll in the baking course to make his catering enterprise complete.
“It is my plan to put up a catering business, so I want a personal expertise on how breads and cakes are prepared for me to know the real inputs and aesthetic presentation of the baked products,” he said.
A mother of five and another OFW, Clarita Astronomia from Barangay Victory Norte enrolled in the baking course because of her intention of putting up a related business.
“I have been to Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan working for other people but it is time to attend to my family. Baking would be an ideal skill to pay attention to my very own kids,” Astronomia said.
Newly licensed secondary-school teachers Marinel Grace Sebastian, Joanna Marie Mina, Marjorie Ingaran and Jessa Escobar landed as a team in the baking course.
“We want to add more value to our knowledge in baking breads and pastries to make us more ready once we are assigned as TLE mentors,” the four answered in chorus.
TLE teachers and supervisors are now required to undergo training to be ready to teach the new batch of students who will take the tech-voc track.
Breads and pastries production instructor Esther Lucas Roque said most of their graduates have found baking-related jobs either as TLE teachers, bakeshop operators or simply for home consumption.
“Many of our graduates have easily found jobs not only because of the skills they earned from our training center but since they were armed with the Tesda certificate, prospective employers find no difficulty assessing their competencies as applicants,” said Roque, who has been in Sicat since 1985.
In a statement, Tesda Director General Joel Villanueva encouraged students entering senior-high school starting the academic year 2016-2017 to get into the technical-vocational-livelihood track as their specialization.
Villanueva said Tesda programs and courses are continuously being improved, and new sets of training regulations are being developed.
Image credits: Leonardo Perante II