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DSWD's expanded tutorial program aims to assist 13K learners in Bulacan who are facing reading difficulties
DSWD's expanded tutorial program aims to assist 13K learners in Bulacan who are facing reading difficulties
The “scaled up” implementation of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) “Tara, Basa!” tutoring program is anticipated to benefit at least 13,000 young learners in Bulacan, in addition to 1,500 college students serving as tutors and youth development workers (YDWs).
The DSWD, the provincial government of Bulacan, and selected state colleges and universities in the province, signed a memorandum of agreement to officially launch the program on March 19.
DSWD Undersecretary for Innovations Eduardo Punay, who heads the project implementation, gave an overview of the tutoring program during the launch at the e-Library Auditorium of the Bulacan State University.
Punay said the program provides a good learning opportunity for college students to participate in nation building by helping young children to read and teaching parents on how they can improve the reading proficiency of their children at home.
“We will not allow children here in the town of poets to have difficulty reading. We have the same beliefs as our national hero, Gat Jose Rizal, that the youth is the hope of our nation, so it is only right that we equip them with knowledge and readiness towards a prosperous New Philippines,” he said.
The Tara, Basa! tutoring program is the DSWD’s reformatted educational assistance that creates an ecosystem of learning wherein college students will be capacitated and deployed as tutors to teach poor and non or struggling readers in public elementary schools and as YDWs to conduct Nanay-Tatay learning sessions.
Punay said 1,583 students from Bulacan State University, Bulacan Polytechnic College, and City College of San Jose Del Monte are expected to benefit from the cash-for-work program for their service as tutors and YDWs.
It also aims to assist 13,188 incoming Grade 2 students from low-income families in the province who struggle to read or are non-readers.
The tutoring program will also be launched in Quezon province, Western Samar, Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, and General Santos City in the coming months.