Second chance for school dropouts

More than ever, the Department of Education (DepEd) has to give more attention to bringing into the learning fold the country’s school dropouts, not only those affected by the pandemic, but even those who during the pre-pandemic era took a disinterest in acquiring education through schooling.

Not only does our basic education officials need to attract more of the dropouts to reenroll, but also to keep them in the learning ambit long enough to take examinations, pass them, and progress to higher learning if the case warrants.

During the previous administration, the DepEd, through its newly formed Bureau of Alternative Education (BAE), recognized the huge drop in enrollment of out-of-school children, youths, and adults (OSCYA) when face-to-face classes were temporarily stopped.

Enrollment in 2020 was more than halved from about 740,000 during the pre-pandemic 2019 to just about 370,000. As alarming as this sounds, a bigger concern is the fact that even under normal circumstances, enrollment barely broke 10 percent of the surveyed number of dropouts and OSCYA.

As the country’s population grows, one can expect the absolute number of people will likewise increase. For an economy bent on high growth, this represents a big drag as more people are unable to access tools and opportunities to improve their lives and will likely remain at poverty levels.

The Philippines has already one of the world’s largest educational programs for second-chance learning. In 2004, the DepEd started the Alternative Learning System (ALS), and during a 10-year period before 2010, some 5.5 million young and adult learners 15 years old and older had enrolled.

Gateway

Development institutions recognize that completing basic education is a gateway for higher education and vocational training, and to formal employment. Without basic education, people are vulnerable to extreme poverty.

Given the reality that the ALS program is falling behind in bringing in more OSCYAs to enroll, the previous government took steps to institutionalize ALS in the DepEd structure, mainly with the rollout of an ALS Version 2.0 and a five-year roadmap from 2019 to 2024.

ALS 2.0 is the product of three years of consultations, reviews, and development of policies, training, and evaluation with a wide group of stakeholders, and is seen as radical improvement on the original program design. A task force was assigned to oversee the change process, including the impact of Industry 4.0.

Alternative learning systems are not unique to the Philippines, and have been effectively used by successful countries in providing learning opportunities outside the formal education system. Its biggest value is the provision of a variety learning tools and channels that fit the needs of interested dropouts.

OSCYAs in the Philippines often cite financial reasons for leaving the formal education system. Even if tuition is free in public schools, an individual may be needed to take on jobs to provide or augment the living expenses of the family.

Behind schedule

Early findings culled from the regular evaluation reports show signs of improvement, but mainly in the increase in the number of better trained ALS teachers, new Community Learning Centers (CLCs) where ALS learners are able to meet up with their teachers, and more materials and learning tools like computers in the CLCs.

The work can be deemed slow, and already behind schedule. For example, by mid-2022, the DeEd should have started a host of new interventions like team teaching, micro-certification, improved linkages to technical and vocational education, and career guidance.

The latter intervention, which ALS students have found useful in keeping them enrolled despite all of their problems and limitations, is tedious for the teacher since this requires a deeper understanding of the pupil’s personal strengths and weaknesses.

Yet, career guidance is key to ensuring that ALS enrollees stay in school, are motivated to learn, pass the accreditation and equivalency tests that provide official certificates similar to the regular diplomas given in the traditional schools.

This early, the DepEd, under a new dispensation, should prepare to extend and expand the five-year program if it fully recognizes the need to herd back to the learning net all of the OSCYAs, the numbers of which are growing every year.

Good power protection

Before the issue of the New Year Ninoy Aquino International Airport snafu totally gets buried under new issues, let’s hear from a reader on his views. Following is what Charlie Yap wrote: “Looks like CAAP really has a Business DIScontinuity Plan in place instead of the usual Business Continuity Plan (BCP) being implemented by operators of high availability IT systems.

“A power protection system supporting a critical facility like a major airport is usually designed with redundancy. In a properly designed and properly maintained power protection system, the possibility of system failure is quite low.

“I find it hard to believe that the power protection system design used in our major airport has no redundancy in place. If that is the case, the design is inappropriate for its application.

“To achieve good power protection for the critical loads, the minimum system configuration may include redundant UPS modules, good battery back up, a reliable emergency generator system, a good automatic transfer switch (ATS), good wiring, good physical security, plus GOOD maintenance.

“Equipment in a critical facility are also subject to replacement due to factors like obsolescence and upgrade issues, reliability issues, parts availability issues, operating costs, and maintenance costs.

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