QC councilor proposes alternative learning system for adult learners

MANILA, Philippines–Each Quezon City barangay (village) may soon have its own alternative learning system for adult learners and out-of-school youth if a proposed ordinance is passed by the local council.

In her proposed “Barangay (village) Alternative Learning System Ordinance,” fifth district councilor Julienne Alyson Rae Medalla wants the ALS institutionalized and implemented in all of the city’s 142 villages.

The ALS was established under Republic Act 9155 or the Governance of Basic Education of 2001 as a “parallel learning system to provide, viable, flexible and accessible learning opportunities to all out-of-school youth and adults in all villages across the country.”

Manny Pacquiao is a product of Alternative Leaning System

Medalla said that the organized enforcement of the ALS locally “will contribute greatly to the provision of education for individuals who because of their socio-economic circumstances have been deprived of such rights.”

According to the Bureau of Alternative Learning System website, the ALS is the Department of Education’s free education program for those who cannot afford formal schooling where students are required to attend ten months of school or 800 hours in the classroom before their performance is assessed. The ALS follows a uniform lesson module for all academic subjects covering Science, Mathematics, English, Filipino and Social Studies.

It further said, “Aside from giving hope to the less fortunate, it (ALS) also provides opportunities to out-of-school youth and adults elementary and secondary school drop-outs; industry-based workers; housewives; maids; factory workers; drivers; members of cultural minorities; indigenous people and the disabled/physically challenged.”

The bureau cited Sarangani Province Representative Manny Pacquiao, who was a first year high school dropout, as a product of ALS. Pacquiao took and passed the ALS Accreditation and Equivalency Test which earned him a high school diploma and made him eligible for college.

Under Medalla’s proposed measure, each barangay is to set up the ALS for out-of-school youth and adult learners and is to keep records of all adults and young persons, who have not received primary and secondary education, within its area of jurisdiction.

The ALS is to be conducted at least twice in a month on the barangay multi-purpose halls or on barangay high schools or a barangay can build a structure for the purpose of the alternative education program.

Each barangay chairman will be designated ALS coordinator while the barangay council chair of the committee on education will act as administrative officer to oversee the daily operations of the program.

Volunteer teachers will act as instructional managers to take charge of the ALS and other literacy programs, not limited to livelihood skills training, for the out-of-school youth and adults. Volunteer teachers must be qualified to instruct and manage the ALS curriculum as determined by the division of city schools.

Funding for the ALS may be sourced from the internal revenue allotment of each barangay, the Sangguniang Kabataan funds, subsidy from the local special education fund, and donations from private individuals or business entities.