Learner support aides

Clarita A. Natividad

TO assist teachers in the implementation of the distance learning system for the incoming school year, the Department of Education (DepEd) said it will hire learner support aides or LSAs.

LSAs are qualified individuals who will help teachers in providing learning opportunities using various learning delivery modalities that promote achievement and progression of learners, DepEd said.

They will serve as teachers’ aides as they start delivering distance learning under the different modalities such as online, radio, television and printed selflearning modules (SLMs) this school year.

Apart from assisting teachers in lesson preparation, LSAs will guide learners and households in the use of their chosen learning modalities and monitor the progress and achievement of learners.

The agency said however that it still needs to assess the number of LSAs needed per school division and public school, as it will depend on the need of the divisions.

The salary of LSAs, meanwhile, will be under the minimum daily wage rates set by the National Wages Productivity Commission per region. Compensation will be from P6,000 to P11,000, depending on their location, DepEd said.

Guidelines for the hiring of LSAs are also still being finalized, but under the hiring policy being crafted for the program, LSAs will be hired from passers of the Licensure Exam for Teachers and private school teachers who became displaced, unemployed or underemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

They may also be from ranks of licensed teachers who have applied for teaching positions with DepEd but had not met the grade for certain reasons, and provisional teachers whose contracts were not renewed. The positions, however, are also open to non-teachers.

Qualifications for the position are: are at least senior high school graduate or at least two years of college education; at least 21 years old but not more than 59 years old. The schools division office, DepEd said, can set preference for their respective hirees.

LSAs from within a certain public school’s community may also be hired to lessen mobility in view of the enforced community quarantine, and to prevent transmission among communities, according to the DepEd. They are to be hired under contracts of service or job order, and employment period will be for six months, subject to renewal.

To date, more than 1,000 LSAs have already been hired.

--oOo-

The author is Teacher III at Fortuna Elementary School, Floridablanca West

District, Pampanga