DepEd opens registration for A&E test

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) yesterday urged out-of-school youth to register for its Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) examination to be held in October.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the registration will run from July 4 to Aug. 2.

Luistro said visually impaired persons may also register for the equivalency examination.

In 2011, the agency developed an A&E test in Braille to include blind people among those qualified to take the exam.

“This is part of our continuing push to give the differently abled learners equal access to education,” Luistro said.

The Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS) will administer the exam in 17 regions nationwide in October.

The A&E exam for Regions 9, 10, 11, 12, Caraga and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is scheduled on Oct. 6; Oct. 13 for Regions 5, 6, 7 and 8; Oct. 20 for Regions 1, 2,3 and the Cordillera Administrative Region, and Oct. 27 for the National Capital Region, Calabarzon and Mimaropa.

Luistro said the test is designed to measure the competencies of those who have neither attended nor finished elementary or secondary education in the formal school system.

Passers of the A&E test are given a certificate/diploma, signed by the DepEd secretary, certifying the passers’ competency as comparable to the graduates of the formal school system.

Luistro said the targets of the A&E are school dropouts, those who have not attended formal schooling, homeschoolers, or others who have not finished basic education but are basically literate.

The A&E registration, administration, and certification are provided free by the DepEd.