The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) said Friday, Jan. 17, that it offers business and entrepreneurship courses to persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) who want to study through the “Education Behind Bars’’ program.
In an interview, BJMP-National Capital Region (NCR) head Chief Supt. Clint Russel A. Tangeres explained that the program offers educational opportunities to PDLs to help them earn their diplomas and develop skills that may come in handy when they are reintegrated into society.
According to Tangeres, the business degree educational scholarship program started at the Quezon City Jail Female Dormitory (QCJFD), producing 19 PDL graduates.
At present, Tangeres said that 50 PDLs in the Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory (QCJMD) are enrolled in business management and entrepreneur courses.
Tangere said teaching personnel from the Quezon City University and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines were the assigned professors for the PDL enrollees in the Quezon City and Manila jail facilities, respectively.
He added that professors from Rizal Technological University have also been engaged in a similar program for the PDLs in the BJMP’s Mandaluyong City Jail facilities.
Meanwhile, BJMP teaching personnel are tasked with the coordination and supervision duties in the classroom setting as well as providing the PDLs assistance with their assigned homework.
Tangeres stressed that education is a life-turning tool for personal transformation and social change, offering the PDLs the golden chance to lead a righteous and productive path once they go out of jail.
However, he acknowledged that some employers detest hiring workers with past criminal records, making it extremely difficult for PDLs to turn a new leaf in life.
As such, Tangeres said that the BJMP offers Bachelor of Science (BS) in Entrepreneurship scholarship grants to PDLs to provide them with business management skills.
Equipped with business degrees and entrepreneurship skills, Tangeres emphasized that the former PDLs could also be “their own boss’’ once they decide to establish their personal business ventures.
“Engage in business right away, no need for the PDL to be an employee. When applying for work, usually there is a background check. Some will say ‘I will not hire you because you used drugs’. That norm stays. It is normal for employers to pick applicants with no criminal record. The employers will require NBI, police clearance,’’ Tangeres noted.
Through the Education Behind Bars program, Tangere hopes that employers would show compassion to former PDLs so they could have better chances of having a decent livelihood upon their release from detention.