The Philippines Society of Plumbing Engineers (PSPE), Inc. link with Escuela Taller, a Spanish project aim to provide vocational training to young residents of Intramuros and contribute to the historic district’s rehabilitation.

A project of the Agencia Española de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarrollo, “Escuela Taller” (pronounced eskwela talyer) is a program that started in Spain in the 1980s as the government’s way of solving the problem of unemployed youth on the country’s numerous heritage buildings needing restoration. The program worked so well in Spain that it was soon done overseas, in Latin America, and then in other parts of the world. And now, it has come to the Philippines.

Last March 25, 2009 it was inaugurated with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos as guest speaker, the project is envisioned to equip out-of-school youth with specialized skills, and ultimately give the participants the chance to find good employment and better their lives. It is set to train 75 out-of-school youth aged 16 to 25 from Baseco who were chosen after aptitude tests and interviews conducted during the first quarter of 2009.

These 75 students will undergo one year training both academic and vocational skills and at the same time they will undergo on the job training under the housing projects of Gawad Kalinga. One of the program or module to be taught is the skilled in Plumbing. PSPE through its officers who are Registered Master Plumbers at the same time a multi-discipline engineers/architects and accredited Trainee and Assessor of Tesda will teach them Plumbing NC-I and NC-II which being implemented by Tesda.

Besides the vocational aspect of the program, also part of the training will be lessons in mathematics, English, Values Education, and, toward the end of the program, basic entrepreneurial skills.

This project is being carried out in cooperation with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), the Intramuros Administration, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Department of Education, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.