VALENZUELA Mayor Wes Gatchalian and Department of Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista forged a memorandum of agreement paving the way for the curriculum expansion especially on railway courses at the city’s Valenzuela Technological College.
Gatchalian said the partnership was significant because this would make Valenzuela students much ahead as they’d now be able to learn and obtain expertise on railway engineering and related courses.
“This is very important because in the next few years, more jobs will be needed in time for the operation of various railway-related projects of the national government like the Metro Manila Subway and the North-South Commuter Railways, among others.”
As the home of the two mega railway projects and the first railway institution in the country also known as the Philippine Railways Institute, Valenzuela is beyond fortunate as this ‘project of the century” – Metro Manila Subway and the North-South Commuter Railway won’t only provide convenience to the commuting experience of ‘Valenzuelanos’ by cutting down travel time, but it shall also generate more job and business opportunities surrounding these railway projects, he said.
“Again, this academic partnership through PRI is very vital because more residents are expected to be employed in the railway projects especially now that the subway depot would be located right in our city or specifically in Barangay Ugong,” the city chief executive said.
Former Department of Trade and Industry secretary and now ValTech’s Board of Trustees vice chairman Ramon Lopez said the collaboration was intended to broaden the curriculum and practices for engineering courses at ValTech through PRI’s support and expertise.
Moreover, the city government would pursue the offering of railway-related vocational courses for ‘Valenzuelanos’ through collaboration with the DOTr as a means of enhancing the students’ qualification for employment in the industry, the mayor said.
Succeeding the MOA was the unveiling of the scale models of the Metro Manila Subway and North-South Commuter Railways exhibit.
The models demonstrate the subway depot and an electric-powered model of the tunnel boring machine that was used for the subway project.
