Around 781 million adults worldwide are unable to read or write in any language. While adult literacy rates have risen dramatically in recent decades, recent growth is mostly due to a younger, more educated generation replacing an older, less educated ones.
Despite the fact that the Philippines has made significant progress in upgrading its public basic education system over the last decade, half of Filipino children do not finish the basic education cycle. While the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) is focused on lowering the dropout rate, there is much that may be done to improve the educational and employment prospects of individuals who have already dropped out. DepEd has run alternative education systems for young and adults who have not completed basic formal education for the previous five decades. The Basic Literacy Program and the Accreditation and Equivalency (A and E) Programs are the two major components of the Alternative Learning System (ALS) in its current form. ALS participants can use this certificate to apply to higher education and training institutions, as well as professions that need a high school diploma.
The World Bank performed a series of assessments of the ALS in collaboration with DepEd in order to shed insight on the challenges it faces and aid the government in establishing a strategy to overcome them. This policy brief proposes policy alternatives to improve the ALS’ efficacy based on the empirical evidence gained from these assessments and other program data. There are six sections to this policy note. The second section, which follows the introduction, covers ALS and its target audience. The third segment looks at demand-side difficulties and suggests ways to help people with ALS. The fourth section looks at supply-side issues and identifies priorities for improving ALS implementation. The ALS’s returns are evaluated in the fifth section, and measures to expand its scope and impact are recommended in the sixth section.
Truly there is human capital in alternative learning system (ALS), where second chance is given to everyone who wishes to continue their educational venture and be more effective and functional part of the society.
By: Elaine D. Paller |Teacher I| Alternative Learning System (ALS)
