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PNA: Philippine News Agency
DepEd sees 16% increase in enrollees to alternative learning system in 2010
The number of enrollees to the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System (ALS) is expected to increase to more than 390,000 this year as the department continues to intensify its drive to bring education to learners outside the formal system.
ALS is a non-traditional learning delivery to out-of-school children, youth and adults who may either be indigenous people, rebel-returnees, those living in highly inaccessible areas, persons with disability, jobless adults, senior citizen, drop-outs and others not served by formal education.
“This is a more relaxed learning system where lessons are taught outside classroom and learning sites can be a barangay hall, a church courtyard, a cockpit, under the shade of tree or any other areas where learning can take place,” said Education Secretary Mona Valisno.
She added that learning delivery can be through face-to-face interaction, radio-based and computer-based instruction and independent learning facilitated by DepEd’s mobile teachers, District ALS coordinators (DALSCs), facilitators and instructional managers.
DepEd said the steady increase in enrolment can be attributed to the relevant curriculum which is able to effectively deliver education direct to the learners by mobile teachers.
“Let us also not forget our heroic mobile teachers and DALSCs who practically scour the mountains and seas to reach out to learners and bring education right to their doorstep,” Valisno added.
Valisno also explained that DepEd will vigorously pursue plans to strengthen ALS which has given many Filipino youth and adults a second a chance of educating themselves and thus fight poverty in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
The total projected enrollees this year represent a 25.6 percent increase from an estimated 312,400 enrollees in 2009.
It accounts for almost a five times growth from 2001 or at the start of the Arroyo administration when enrollees totaled only 63,845.
The actual number of learners who have successfully completed the ALS program has also been increasing. The number of completers is projected to reach to almost 295,000 by 2010, up from some 230,000 from the 2009 estimated level.
The completers represent a 77-percent success rate compared to the number of enrollees. This is considered a satisfactory rate considering that those who enroll in these programs can be prone to losing the motivation on account of their being overage.
The ALS has three major programs namely: Basic Literacy Program; Accreditation and Equivalency Program (A&E); and Informal Education Program.
ALS has produced graduates like Ana M. Diores, a magna cum laude graduate of Bachelor of Pre-Elementary Education at the Cebu Institute of Technology and Kristine Y. Martinez, a magna cum laude graduate of the University of San Carlos with a degree on Library and Information Science.
A&E enables learners who stopped schooling to obtain an elementary, high school or even college or technical-vocational degrees if they pass the exam administered by the Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS).
“If an examinee passes the A & E for elementary or high school, that means that his/her level of understanding is equivalent to elementary or high school students who graduated from formal school,” said Dr. Edel Carag, chief of BALS’ Literacy Division.
Carag said the government has achieved success in ALS despite the limited budget of less than one percent of total government budget for education.
BALS has so far developed A&E learning modules in digital format. It has also integrated the use of computer and other technologies in the teaching-learning process.
“The digitized modules are stored on compact discs and in servers in eSkwela or Community e-learning centers. Trained facilitators and mobile teachers assist in the process,” Carag added. (PNA)
