Luistro meets DepEd 7 officials

CEBU, Philippines -   Department of Education Secretary Armin A. Luistro FSC, met with DepEd 7 officials, headed by Regional Director Carmelita T. Dulangon  last November 12 to establish a satellite office for DepEd Region 7.

 The satellite office, at the DepEd Ecotech Center, will serve as a back-up for division offices in Region VIII that are not yet operational due to the destruction brought about by super typhoon Yolanda.

Some personnel from the schools divisions in Region VII were selected to partner with the seven divisions in Region VIII, namely: Leyte, Tacloban City, Eastern Samar, Catbalogan, Biliran, Borongan, and Baybay.

The satellite office's first task is to account for the personnel in each schools division and get information on the damage of buildings and classrooms, as well as prepare a status report that will serve as input for the DepEd central office.  — DepEd 7

DepEd, Cebuana Lhuillier to build 16 alternative learning schools

The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, Inc. (CLFI) have agreed to establish 16 community learning centers across the country where out-of-school youth and adults can continue their informal education via the Alternative Learning Systems (ALS).

The Memorandum of Agreement was signed by Education Secretary Br. Armin Luistro FSC and CLFI president Dr. Jean Henri Lhuillier in a simple ceremony at the DepEd Central Office in Pasig City.

DepEd has a continuing program to make education accessible to all learners using various approaches that have been designed for different kinds of learners. These include Alternative Delivery Modes (ADM) for school-aged children and Alternative Learning System (ALS) for over-aged OSYs, adults, and other marginalized sectors.

Under the agreement, the CLFI operating groups shall establish sixteen Community Learning Centers (CLCs), two for each of Cebuana Lhuillier's eight business regions nationwide. This will be done in partnership with communities who agree to have their out-of-school youth and adults study under the ALS.

The CLFI shall also make a donation totaling to two million pesos, to be divided equally across the 16 CLCs for purchasing teaching equipment and reproducing teaching materials.

DepEd, meanwhile, shall pay the salaries and other benefits of the mobile teachers to be assigned to the 16 CLCs, as well as other DepEd personnel involved in the implementation of the ALS in said communities.

Graduates of the ALS are advised to take the Accreditation and Equivalency Tests for elementary and high school. An elementary ALS passer gets a diploma signed by the Secretary of Education which will allow him/ her to continue secondary education. A high school ALS passer gets a diploma which entitles the passer to proceed to college or technical-vocational education.