Students undergo training as transmission line rangers

By Connie Destura LEGAZPI CITY --- If the Philippine Army has its elite scout rangers who can comb treacherous and mountainous terrains in the countryside, the power industry has its so-called “Line School Rangers” trained to fix electric transmission lines. According to Nilda Somera, Regional communication and public affairs officer of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, some 60 students from South Luzon, five of whom are from Bicol are now hired after graduating from technical trainings conducted under the “Line School Ranger” program of the NGCP and the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in Bicol. “These highly competent transmission line personnel will set standards for linemen in the power industry,” according to Somera. The Line School Ranger program aims to give young people the opportunity to become transmission line experts in the future. Somera explained the program offers intensive instructions from professional trainers for one month inside the classroom. This is followed by a five-month on-the-job training course where they learn technical skills from NGCP’s current line professionals. After that, the graduates are considered “certified NGCP line rangers.” The graduates will be assigned in Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Albay starting this month, Somera disclosed. NGCP is a privately-owned corporation in charge of operating, maintaining and developing the country’s state-owned power grid, an interconnected system that transmits gigawatts of power to homes and industries.