DepEd teams up with Peñaflorida to bring 'pushcart' education to more areas

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) has teamed up with the Dynamic Teen Company (DTC) of 2009 CNN Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida to scale up the latter’s “kariton” education model for mobile delivery of education services to out-of-school youth in poor urban areas in the country.

DepEd and DTC launched the K4 Outreach program, touted as an “out of the box” delivery of educational services to marginalized urban learners.

The initial phase of the K4 program will implement the “kariton” education delivery style developed by Penaflorida which had gotten him the notice of CNN, leading to him being chosen as the CNN Hero of the Year for 2009.

“We say out of the box because it employs a novel way of making education and other basic social services accessible to underprivileged children initially in Manila, Caloocan, Pasig and Quezon City,” said Education Secretary Armin Luistro in ceremonies for the launch of the program last Saturday.

The K4 program developed by DTC uses kariton (pushcart) as klasrum (classroom), klinik (clinic), and kantin (canteen) to seek out its intended clientele.

As such it will carry with it educational materials, a simple medical care kit, and food to be shared to the learners after the learning session.

It targets street children aged 5 to 15 particularly those who never attended school or who have dropped out with the aim of reintegrating them into the formal school system.

The focus is on three learning areas. One is values formation that includes good manners and right conduct. There will also be literacy classes that teach them daily living skills, perceptual skills, language and mathematics. Thirdly, there will be a play center which aims to make learning enjoyable.

DepEd adopts the K4 learning modality to reach out to street children, out-of-school youth, and school drop-outs delivered through the alternative learning system or alternative delivery modes.

“One of our goals here is for the targeted learners to understand and appreciate learning which they can apply in their own families and to the community,” Luistro pointed out.

Teacher volunteers will man the kariton to teach children using different learning tools until such time that they are ready to be integrated in public schools at a grade level appropriate to their age and skills.

The health of the learners will also be monitored, and basic hygiene such as handwashing and toothbrushing will also be taught. Moving away from the usual practice, food will be provided to the learners after attending the three learning areas.