Luistro to ARMM execs: Help solve education woes

MANILA, Philippines - Education Secretary Armin Luistro has urged local officials and other stakeholders in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to help solve prevalent education-related problems in the region.

During the K to 12 summit held earlier this month in Sulu, Luistro cited the dismal completion rate in the region, which stands at 35.28 percent in the elementary level and 48.97 percent in the secondary level.

Citing 2014 statistics, Luistro said of the 636,000 enrollees, only around 224,000 completed elementary education, while 72,476 or almost half of the 148,000 enrollees finished secondary education.

“This is our mission: the enrollment and completion rate in Sulu must be at the same level. This is because our overall target is that no Filipino learner must be left behind. That is what we must all achieve together,” he said.

Luistro said the Department of Education has strengthened its programs like the Alternative Learning System (ALS) to provide alternative options to existing formal instruction.

“We have students whom we should reach out to. We need to strengthen our ALS program and provide more mobile teachers. We will make sure that they are part of our program,” he said.

Local stakeholders, Luistro said, should look for graduating Grade 10 students who have not registered early for senior high school, which will start in June.

DepEd data showed only 19,658 who finished Grade 10 joined the early registration, which is way below the 28,915 students who enrolled in 2015.