Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 18) — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said on Monday that it seeks to expand its ‘Tara, Basa!’ tutoring program to more areas after a successful pilot run in Metro Manila.
“We’re running it again sa grade two sa Metro Manila. Then our initial talks with the Vice President, she said nga na if we’re going to expand it, I think logistically mas madali sa ibang region. So we’re looking at the province of Bulacan,” DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian announced at the culminating activity held in Pasig City.
[Translation: We’re running it again for grade two students of Metro Manila. Our initial talks with the Vice President is that we will be expanding it. I think logistically, it’s easier in other regions, so we’re booking at the province of Bulacan.]
The pilot run of the tutoring program in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) was launched last Aug. 2 and lasted until Nov. 25.
The initiative aims to help struggling or non-reader incoming second grade students and their parents or guardians.
Local government units (LGUs) that wish to implement the program will be assisted by the DSWD.
“May mga LGUs kasi (there are some LGUs) who wants technology transfer like Samar, so we’re also working with them. We also want to do a couple of requests sa Marawi, sa Taraka sa Mindanao. So we can also pilot it there and also look at it from a different terrain. So more of a creeping yung expansion,” Gatchalian explained.
Meanwhile, the agency said it has no plans of including other grade levels in the program for now.
“We’d rather keep it conservative and build on the gains. Para we can also track down, kasi when you track impacts, you want to make sure it’ s consistent over time,” Gatchalian explained.
DepEd Regional Director for National Capital Region Jocelyn Andaya lauded the program which produced “remarkable” results.
In the Comprehensive Rapid Literary Assessment (CRLA) conducted by DepEd, there was a significant decrease in learners classified as full refresher or those who need to be retaught previous grade level reading skills.
From the 17,193 ‘full refresher’ students in the initial test, only 6,978 retained the status after the pilot implementation of the program.
Meanwhile, 2,051 learners considered non-readers were also reduced to 198 by the end of the program.
Andaya admitted the positive results were not solely because of Tara, Basa! but acknowledged the impact of the intervention.
“Imagine the effect if all our students become part of the program. Imagine also its impact if all the reading efforts of DepEd coupled with Tara, Basa are shored up to gratefully focus on literacy and numeracy,” she said.
“This will positively influence the result of our PISA, the national achievement test and all other international and local assessments in the coming years,” Andaya added.
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Supports
The DepEd official expressed optimism in the program along with the agency’s initiatives that aim to help boost literacy and skills of students.
“Inaasahan natin na lalo pang tataas ang mga estudyante na nakakabasa lalo na sa kanilang foundational years ito yung grades one to three. So we fully support the Tara, Basa initiative. But there are also programs in the DepEd that we continue to implement,” Andaya said.
[Translation: We expect that there will be more students who will learn to read especially during their foundational years of learning which is in grades one to three. So we fully support the Tara, Basa initiative…]
DSWD Undersecretary for Innovations Edu Punay earlier said they were looking at the institutionalization of the program.
“Our allies in the House of Representatives will be moving to file a Tara, Basa! bill that will expand the implementation of this program nationwide,” he said.
Pasig Representative Roman Romulo and Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto also expressed support for the program.
Over 6,000 third to fourth year college students from low-income families served as tutors and youth development workers who received ₱610 per session.
Tutors held reading sessions for the grade two students, while the youth development workers facilitated ‘Nanay-Tatay’ sessions to assist parents and guardians of the learner-beneficiaries of the program.
Participating college students John Venalion and Evander Buenaflor welcomed the news of the program’s expansion. Venelion said that the lack of opportunity to learn is a problem not only in the capital region but in the whole part of the country.
For his part, Buenaflor said that the program will not only help the grade schoolers but will also hone the teaching skills of college students who tutor in the reading program.
