Out-of-schoolers in Central Visayas take equivalency test under DepEd’s ALS program | Sun.Star

by Rebelander S. Basilan

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

NEARLY 20,000 out-of-school children, youth and adults in Central Visayas took the Department of Education’s (DepEd) accreditation and equivalency test last year.

Of the 19,570 persons who registered to take the test last November, 11,065 were from Cebu Province and 2,587 were from Cebu City.

The test, whose results will be announced next month, is one of the programs under DepEd’s Alternative Learning System (ALS), which also offers basic literacy program to out-of-school children, youth and adults.

Those who pass the test are granted equal rights as those who graduate from the formal education system. They are given a certificate of completion signed by the DepEd secretary.

In the 2010 national accreditation and equivalency test, the divisions of Bohol, Cebu Province and Cebu City were among the 10 divisions nationwide with the most number of test passers.

Successful

Central Visayas has been recognized by the Accreditation and Equivalency National Ranking Committee as one of the most successful regions to implement ALS, with 222 community learning centers operating in the region.

The National Government is strengthening ALS to achieve the goals of the Education for All (EFA) movement, a global commitment to provide quality basic education to all children, youth and adults.

It has six goals that include expanding early childhood care and education, attaining a 50-percent improvement in adult literacy and achieving gender equality in education by 2015.

Last year, DepEd 7 appointed 26 mobile teachers who will teach basic literacy to out-of-school children, youth and adults in the region.

The ALS encompasses both the formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills, such as those acquired at home, church, media and environment.

Based on the functional literary education and mass media survey conducted in 2008, over 49 million Filipinos, or 62 percent of the country’s population then, were not able to study or finish elementary and high school.

As of 2010, ALS has catered to over 340,000 Filipinos, according to the Bureau of Alternative Learning System.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 10, 2012.

via sunstar.com.ph