The Department of Education (DepEd) has postponed the administration of the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) test until further notice.
DepEd Bureau of Education Assessment (BEA) Director Nelia Benito, in a letter addressed to ALS Task Force Assistance Assistant Secretary G.H. Ambat dated Jan. 26, said that the A&E test will be postponed due to the ongoing health situation in the country.
Benito said that the BEA submitted a recommendation to the Office of Secretary Leonor Briones on Jan. 8. to “postpone the national assessments that are scheduled from January to April this year.”
The postponement, Benito explained, this includes the paper-based and computer-based administration of the A&E Test.
Benito said that this recommendation is “aligned with the decision” of President Duterte to retract the pilot implementation of face-to-face classes over fears of the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.
Specifically, the BEA has recommended postponing the A&E computer-based test because conducting the said test in this “modality would require a face-to-face setup which entails close physical contact with the test takers for technical assistance.”
The BEA has also taken into consideration “health of the test takers and DepEd personnel” which “would be at risk even with this modality.”
Benito said that the final decision to proceed with the administration of the test is subject to the approval of Briones and the rules of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
“Thus, the test schedule is indefinite as of this date,” Benito added.
Meanwhile, BEA assured that that it would continue to serve the ALS clientele through other means aside from the administration, that is the “issuance of the a any test certification to requesting parties.”
The ALS Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) Assessment and Certification is a process that comprises an exam and other appropriate assessments to measure the competencies acquired by ALS learners based on the ALS K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum (BEC).