The poor performance of our students in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has elicited many comments on the education program and suggestions on how to improve it. In the 2022 PISA, the Philippines landed in the bottom 10 out of 81 participating countries in areas of reading comprehension, mathematics, and science; and second to the last in creative thinking.
Approximately 27 percent of elementary learners in the Philippines face challenges with reading, according to data from the Department of Education (DepEd).
On July 31, without much fanfare, a program known as the “Tara, Basa!” (Let’s read!) concluded another 20-day tutoring program where 1,625 college students from state and local universities in the Visayas and Mindanao provided reading tutoring to elementary learners who are lagging behind in reading, including those who have not started reading yet.
“Tara, Basa,” a program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in partnership with DepEd which was launched last year, aims to a enhance reading capabilities among young students and provide aid to college students from low-income families. The program has been extended outside of the National Capital Region (NCR) to provinces in Luzon, and recently to the schools in Visayas and Mindanao.
“Tara, Basa!” is an educational assistance program that targets two sectors – college students who earn as tutors and youth development workers (YDWs), and the students who have difficulty in reading, math, or science. The tutors teach the learners while the YDWs conduct Nanay-Tatay teacher sessions for parents and guardians of the grade school program beneficiaries, to orient them on how to help their children in their assignments.
The tutor and YDW receive compensation through the DSWD’s cash-for-work program, while the parents and guardians get cash allowance for attending the sessions.
The DSWD has trained some 3,800 tutors and YDWs on how to properly demonstrate effective teaching techniques among struggling and non-reading elementary learners, and their parents and guardians.
Many reading programs have been initiated by DepEd and are still ongoing. Recently, DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara announced that the schools are “injecting some periods in the everyday curriculum for reading to strengthen the foundations of literacy and numeracy," such as 30-minute reading periods in between classes.
Other DepEd programs are the “Catch-Up Fridays” which aims to strengthen foundational, social, and other relevant skills necessary to support the basic education curriculum. There’s also the “Drop Everything and Read (DEAR)” where students read a favorite story to the class; and the “Big Brother/Big Sister” or “Kaklase Ko, Sagot Ko,” where older students or independent readers mentor pupils at the non-reading level.
The programs of these two government agencies are laudable. The way they get things done without publicity show their commitment to serve, in this case, to help those lagging behind to learn a basic skill such as reading.
There is a need to develop a reading culture among the young. Reading builds critical thinking, a significant skill to navigate through life. There is always a place for an individual, a social group, or a corporation to contribute in helping those struggling with learning how to read.
For our young learners to level up and be at par with their Asian and global counterparts, “Tara, Basa!” and similar initiatives must be conducted vigorously nationwide.