Dropouts encouraged to take accreditation test

CEBU, Philippines - The Bureau of Alternative Learning System of the Department of Education in Central Visayas (BALS-DepEd7) encourages all out-of- school youths to take the Accreditation and Equivalency Test that will give them a chance to graduate in elementary or high school without going through the four to six years in formal education.

BALS-7 coordinator Michael Cono said DepEd would like to continue giving hope to students who have stopped in formal education because of various reasons.

Cono said that if they missed the exam for this year, they must try for the next year which application will start normally by September and the exam date starts on February the next year.

Cono said this to reiterate the commitment of DepEd to reduce the number of drop-outs in both elementary and high school nationwide. It is from these drop-outs, that the 83.79-percent functional literacy rate of 1994 was based.

The Accreditation and Equivalency Test is a kind of informal learning which was designed to provide learners with a range of alternatives that allow the continuity in learning outside the formal school system. It is also used to determine the skills and inclinations of examinees.

Given priority to take the Accreditation and Equivalency Test for elementary are those who are over 13 years old. For high school equivalency test, one must be over 15 years old. These ages, Cono said, show that one is already over due for his graduation in either elementary of high school.

Passers of the Accreditation and Equivalency Test are given the certificate equivalent to a grade six or fourth year high school diploma in the formal system.

Cono said that since the ALS started seven years ago, there has been a decline in the illiteracy rate among Filipinos especially children and adolescents. He said it is because the ALS program gives them opportunities to learn through informal and non-formal system of learning.

The informal and non-formal system of learning are composed of activities done outside the classroom and in time suitable for the students.

Specific key programs of the alternative system include the Basic Literacy Program for indigenous people and the Mobile Teacher Program that taps the services of qualified teachers who personally seek the learners in far-flung areas to build Community Learning Centers.

DepEd also has the Agap-Sagip program where potential drop-outs and drop-out students are saved through the non-formal learning system. Here, students are taught of the basics until such time they are ready to go back to the formal education where they will also be assisted. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP (THE FREEMAN)