A measure seeking to institutionalize the alternative learning system (ALS) nationwide has hurdled the committee level at the House of Representatives.
The House Committee on Basic Education and Culture approved a substitute bill seeking to boost accessibility to the education of underserved sectors of the country such as the out-of-school youth (OSY), persons with disabilities (PWDs), Indigenous Peoples, and senior citizens through ALS.
“There is a need to institutionalize ALS as a major component of the country’s basic education system.”
Tingog Party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, a principal author of the bill, cited the need to institutionalize ALS as a major component of the country’s basic education system with a clearly defined role within the overall education goals in the country.
ALS is a parallel learning system that provides an alternative learning arrangement to learners, who, for acceptable reasons to be determined by the Department of Education (DepEd), cannot be admitted to the existing formal basic education.
It includes both the non-formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills.
“The bill intends to strengthen the ALS by clearly defining its role within the education system of our country.”
“This bill intends to strengthen the ALS by defining it as other components of the Philippine educational system and by clearly defining its role within the education system of our country,” said Romualdez.
“In understanding the government’s ALS program and in processing and crafting the bill I proposed, I realized that many of these ALS learners are determined individuals who faced challenges or made sacrifices, which led them to stop formal schooling,” the veteran legislator added.
Under the bill, a mobile teacher program shall be created especially in far-flung, underserved and conflict-affected communities.
The DepEd shall be mandated to strengthen the implementation of non-formal education and informal education programs.