COVID-19 Information

Monitoring 

​

Skills Mastery Institute is currently monitoring the COVID-19 Pandemic and how it affects Technical Skills Training in the Philippines, we are taking the utmost care and safest course to help in flatting the curve of the rate of infection while maintaining our central services to support community-based and school-based skills education and training. To support our community in Cagayan de Oro City and the greater Misamis Oriental Province we seek the best business practices and strategic planning in order to safeguard our students, faculty, staff, and partners.

​

Skills Mastery Institute's pandemic response is based on the prevailing position of the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force of Region-X as well as key principles, as follows.

​

• SMI's New Normal will be guided by considerations for the health and safety of faculty, staff, students, the relative location and vulnerability of the communities where they are from;

​​

• Decisions about health and safety made by SMI in the context of COVID-19 will be evidence-based and data-driven to the extent possible;

​​

• Decisions should sustain - and advance whenever possible - the quality of training and practical demonstration at SMI.

​

Campus Guidance​

​

Under the New Normal regime we will be highlighting specific subject matters that the institute will offer clarification and guidance on, for the information of the public.

Re-opening the Campuses​​​​
 

We have currently suspended all classes on all our campuses in response to the Modified-Enhanced Community Quarantine.

​

What to expect when visiting the campus

It is important that before you decide to visit the campus, that you do a health check at home, if your body temperature exceeds 37.2 degrees Celsius you will not be permitted to enter the building, likewise if you show flu like symptoms, such as a runny nose, cough, or difficulty breathing, you call our trunk lines instead, refer to our directories here.

If you do not exhibit any of the symptoms mentioned above and you wish to visit the campus, please wear a face mask and shield at all times, upon entry in the building your name will be logged with security for contact tracing, you will not be permitted to go up to or enter the administrative or finance offices, your movement is restricted to the front office, if you wish to speak to a specific person the appropriate SMI employee from the department you wish to make an inquiry about will come down and speak with you.

​

We urge you to simply leave us a message on our Facebook Page or on the Contact Page of this website instead, for ease of communication.

Restricting Travel

We will be greatly reducing our interactions outside the campus, field work and reporting will now be done remotely, either through call, text, email, or video conference, this means that any person who wishes to inquire or follow up on either training or assessment related information must do so through either of the aforementioned means of communication, limiting physical contact is the key to reducing the risk of transmission.

Reducing the Number of People Working On-Campus

In the best and strongest possible means we are urging the faculty and staff who work on all campuses to alternate their work hours in order to limit physical interaction with each other.  This, with our hope, will facilitate and support what the public health officials have advised, to maximize social distancing during this crucial time, our goal is not to disrupt our employee's jobs or livelihoods, but to ensure their prolonged health and wellness and to stave off a significant health care challenge, to safeguard the health and lives of their families and their local community.  With very few exceptions, everyone at SMI is at a limited working capacity.
 

Supply of Personal Protective Equipment and Sanitation Apparatuses

SMI is uniquely positioned to supply its workers with the Personal Protective Equipment needed in order to effectively and safely perform their duties during their limited and reduced work times, SMI is committed to providing all its employees with face masks, hand sanitizer or alcohol, as well as ample supply of soaps and sanitation apparatuses such as foot baths, we secure their work environment by frequently and consistently employ hospital grade disinfectants inside and around their work stations as well as subjecting each and every campus room and office to state of the art portable Ultraviolet Light (UV-C) systems to ensure the maximum disinfection of the workspace.
 

Re-aligning and Re-prioritizing high, medium, and low risk qualifications

We have carefully and painstakingly re-evaluated all our services and have determined the qualifications we will be offering back to the public; 

​

Training

All TESDA scholarship programs have been suspended pending clearance from TESDA Regional and Provincial Offices. Non-Scholarship programs shall continue but through a modular basis using online learning tools.

Assessments

Due to the need for hands-on and face-to-face all National Competency Assessments have been suspended per TESDA Memorandum Circular.

Meetings and hosted events

All meetings, hosted events, are currently disallowed in the effort to reduce transmission.

Conducting classes and some assessments online for the foreseeable future

Classes will alternate between ten (10-13) students at a time also observing social distancing, and wearing of face masks at all times, competency assessments will be re-evaluated in the coming weeks, we are looking to conduct the written and oral-interview or 1-on-1 components of the assessment, remotely, or through video conferencing, radical changes to assessments, such as live streaming the practical or hands-on demonstration component is being looked at very carefully.

Maintaining an inclusive environment

SMI is still committed to providing quality training and assessment services to the public, and we remain steadfast on our promise to make our services readily available and affordable despite our current economic challenges.

​

​

​

This page was last updated 30 June 2021

​