ALS to expand more
PASIG CITY – To provide caliber education to vulnerable groups and those not reached by formal education that will help realize greater equity in human development outcomes, the Department of Education (Deped) is working to further expand the coverage of the Alternative Learning System (ALS).
Deped has already offered ALS programs to 11,343 drug surrenderees, children in conflict with the law, 26 rebel returnees, and 180 laborers.
The Department has also rolled out the revised and enhanced ALS curriculum to ensure that knowledge and competencies of ALS learners are aligned with K to 12, relevant, and up-to-date. The new curriculum is demonstrated in content standards, performance standards, and learning competencies. It also describes the minimum competency standards for learners as a substitute pathway of learning and certification similar to the formal school system.
Aside from expanding ALS, capacity building activities for teachers and ALS implementers are also scheduled.
ALS Program has also been established in countries where children of Filipino migrants have no access to formal education. There are 100 volunteer teachers in Sabah who have been trained to facilitate the sessions with learners.
ALS enrollment in 2016 increased to 691,461, as compared with the 586,693 total enrollment in 2015.
Deped also intends to bring ALS to displaced residents of Marawi to ensure education will continue regardless of their circumstances.
The Department will offer ALS to out-of-school youth and adults from Marawi who are in evacuation centers or resettlement areas. The intervention will include psychological first aid and peace education, on top of the regular literacy program.
ALS, as defined in the Republic Act 9155, is a parallel learning system that provides a practical option to the existing formal instruction. The program encompasses both non-formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills, in compliance to the Duterte Administration’s thrust of accelerating human capital development through the execution of inequality-reducing transformation (Pagbabago). DEPED