THE ROLE OF READING IN LEARNING LOSS RECOVERY

The Department of Education (DepEd), in promoting reading to recover learning losses, launched the ‘Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program. In partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the program is a holistic social welfare and development program that aims to help elementary learners who have difficulties learning to read or cannot read yet to improve their foundational reading skills while offering short-term work and learning opportunities for financially challenged college students. Through the program, grade learners will experience, embrace and love reading and the magical world of written and spoken words. The amount of knowledge and wisdom that they will be able to collect from reading is beyond imagination, according to Vice President and Secretary of Education Sara Z. Duterte. Meanwhile, the DSWD said the reformatted educational assistance program will give college students P500 a day for 20 days in exchange of being tutors or youth development workers and will provide P235 per day for parents who will attend the teaching sessions. In the cash for work program, university or college students may serve as a tutor to struggling readers or youth development workers who will train the parents to become Nanay-Tatay Tutors to their children at home. VP-Sec. Duterte expressed her gratitude to the young volunteer tutors for sharing their time and knowledge to the learners, for being selfless, and for loving their fellow Filipinos and their country. In addition, hearing and vision screening will also be conducted to participating learners through the assistance of the private partners to ensure that their eyes and ears are healthy and will not hinder their learning and reading skills.

-oOoThe author is a Teacher III at Manibaug Paralaya Elementary School