Alternative learning gets a boost

MANILA, Philippines –  Donato Jr. is a 23-year-old farmer in Sitio Tamale, Barangay Digmala, Bongabon, Nueva Ecija.

He finished elementary school but the nearest high school is a two-hour walk and three river crossings away. With no reliable means of transportation and no funds for dormitory or weekday shelter, Donato opted to farm full time instead.

He is one of 36 million Filipinos – or over a third of the country’s population – who did not finish secondary education. Many drop out of formal school to work on the streets or in farms.

The Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS) of the Department of Education (DepEd) was established to help people like Donato finish the equivalent of elementary or high school in their own time, at their own pace, and as close to their barangay as possible. There are 1,500 mobile teachers all over the country that help BALS target the 36 million who left the formal school system for various reasons.

A mobile teacher visits Sitio Tamale once a week to help out-of-school youth and adult learners gain functional literacy, as well as livelihood skills.

On the day of my visit, mobile teacher Ric did a quick review of last week’s lesson, how to make tocino. He then called on a guest teacher to teach his learners how to make bignay juice. This would prolong the life of fruits in season. They used actual fruits from the bignay trees in Sitio Tamale, real sugar and utensils to demonstrate the process.

As part of the Knowledge Channel (KCh) team of volunteer mobile teachers for one day, my partner Doris Nuval and I followed teacher Ric with our own lesson on how to make banana chips, reinforcing the advantages of preserving fruit not only to minimize waste, but also to add to household income.

But Doris and I used a teaching aid not yet available to mobile teacher Ric – the KCh LITE (Light Instructional Tool for Educators) beta edition. It is a netbook pre-loaded with digital educational materials. It played a video of how to make banana chips. As Sitio Tamale does not have electricity, the KCh LITE was charged using a small solar panel provided by Adtel, Inc.

KCFI chairman emeritus Oscar Lopez, Education Secretary Armin Luistro and KCFI manager for social enterprise and special projects Jerome Montemayor turn over a prototype of KCh LITE to a mobile teacher in Nueva Ecija.

The faces of 25 learners, aged 14 to 33, lit up as they jockeyed for a better view of the netbook’s LCD monitor. After the session, they were one in saying they won’t miss mobile teacher Ric’s Saturday class if he would be using the KCh LITE every time.

BALS director Carolina Guerrero welcomed the entry of Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KCFI) into the alternative learning space. “For the first time in a very long while, we seem to be finally getting the attention that alternative learning deserves,” she said.

KCFI has been airing curriculum-based educational TV programs on KCh for the last ten years. With the help of sponsors, it has connected over 2,000 public schools by cable and satellite to help students learn more and be the best they could be. Studies invariably show significant improvements in division and national achievement test scores for students who are able to view KCh in school.

KCFI president Rina Lopez-Bautista said the partnership with BALS is a way for the foundation to expand its reach and help those outside the formal school system, which has been KCFI’s focus in its first decade.

“We believe that this innovation we would like to introduce will lighten the load of mobile teachers, who really sacrifice so much physically and mentally, traveling to remote rural barangays as well as to heavily populated urban neighborhoods find out-of-school youth and adults willing to learn. This will also encourage learners to come regularly to gain functional literacy, livelihood skills and life lessons that they can use to improve themselves,” says Lopez-Bautista.

An Adtel representative shows mobile teachers the science behind the solar charger and how it powers the KCh LITE.

Economic, social and geographic factors have limited the ability of grade school or high school drop-outs to return to formal school and have resulted in missed opportunities for the kind of learning valued in the workplace.

By focusing on those who need help the most, the KCFI-BALS partnership can enhance the alternative learning experience and hopefully increase completion rates for the Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) program and passing rates for the A&E tests.

The ALS A&E test measures the competencies of those who have not finished either formal elementary or secondary education. Passers of this test receive a certificate from the DepEd stating their competencies are comparable to graduates of the formal school system, and hence qualify them for enrollment in high school or college. Probably the most famous A&E test passer is welterweight champion and now Saranggani Rep. Manny Pacquiao.

By equipping mobile teachers with KCh LITE, KCFI, BALS and partners intend to significantly raise the performance of out-of-school and mature learners so that they can follow the steps of the boxing superstar.

The KCh LITE was conceptualized for the Out-of-school and Mature Learners (OML) Alternative Learning Institute (OMLALI), a project proposed during the April 2010 celebration of the 80th birthday of Lopez Group chairman emeritus Oscar M. Lopez, who also chairs KCFI. Funding for the initial production of OMLALI instructional materials and pilot KCh LITE packages were provided by Lopez Holdings Corporation and First Philippine Holdings Corporation.

“The OMLALI is another groundbreaking venture the Lopez Group has committed its resources to,” said Lopez in his speech during the field-testing of KCh Lite in Nueva Ecija in July. “The OMLALI seeks to help those who for one reason or another have dropped out or have never been to school and now have no access to basic education,” he explained.

Lopez-Bautista plans to soft launch the project in the first quarter of 2011, aiming for full launch by the new school year 2011-2012.

“We are currently developing a series of educational TV programs for ALS learners. We are also reviewing KCh’s available digital learning materials and producing modules where we see gaps. We will train mobile teachers on the use of the KCh LITE, and orient them on how it can make their workload easier. We expect a very positive impact not only on the teachers but more so on the performance of their learners,” said Lopez-Bautista.

The KCh LITE was field-tested in Pantabangan, Guimba, Gabaldon, General Natividad, Jaen and Bongabon, all in Nueva Ecija. Education Secretary Armin Luistro and Jaen Mayor Santiago Austria were among those who saw the potential of KCh LITE as a learning tool during the demonstration. Luistro hopes that through KCh LITE, “we can reach out to learners both young and old in the remotest, smallest and most marginalized places in the country.”