DepEd gets LGU, private sector support for reading program

The Department of Education has already implemented several reading programs but the desired target of a zero non-reading class is yet to be achieved.

This after pre-test results of the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) conducted in June last year showed that 937 pupils in Lapu-Lapu City's public schools are poor English readers, who are further classified as frustration-level readers and non-readers.

A total of 37,696 pupils from Grades II to VI took the pre-test and 937 got poor ratings. From this figure, 18,250 were classified as instructional level readers.

Instructional level readers are those who can read English but poor in comprehension while frustration level readers or non-readers are those who could not read and comprehend English at all, said Evelyn Gala, English supervisor of the Lapu-Lapu City School Division.

"Syllable and word readers also belong to the frustration level of readers. These are the readers also who can hardly read and comprehend," Gala said.

Gala said the remaining numbers of those who took the exam last June were independent readers or those readers who can read fluently and comprehend what they are reading.

Because of this problem, Gala said the DepEd, in cooperation with the Lapu-Lapu City government, has started its Unified Reading Program. Under the program, remedial classes will be given to students from Grades 2 to 6 every Saturday.

Since the program is still in its initial stage, Gala said they are only choosing at least 60 students in every school in Lapu-Lapu to undergo with the remedial class. But hopefully, she said they would be adding up more students in the coming year.

The students who will take the remedial class will be classified in two levels. Level 1, which will be held every Saturday morning, will be for the non-readers. Level 2, which will be in the afternoon, will be for syllable and word readers.

Under the program, which started last January and will end in December, DepEd will monitor the level of reading progress of the pupil through the conduct of a periodic oral reading verification test.

Some of DepEd's programs to address the non-reading student population include the Every Child a Reader Program in which they came up with manuals that were distributed to teachers on how to effectively teach the children how to read.

Aside from that, DepEd has also put up several library hubs in the country where students can practice their reading skills.

DepEd has been cooperating with non-government organizations and with the business sector to address the problem.

One of those that responded to DepEd's woes was Chevron Philippines, which launched yesterday its Caltex Mentor Program (CMP), one of its community engagement projects seeking to address the increasing rate of non-readers in elementary schools.

The program, which was launched yesterday in Looc Elementary School in Lapu-Lapu City, will benefit at least 43 students from Grades 1 to 3 who flunked in the recent pre-test conducted by DepEd.

These students will be mentored by at least 40 volunteers from Chevron, its retailers and the Rotary Club of Cebu.

Mark Andrew Quebral, manager of Chevron Philippines, said the success rate of the program, which was launched in November 2002, is at 80 percent.

Since its launch, CMP has spread to various public schools, mentoring to more than 1,000 students in Metro Manila, Pangasinan, Batangas and Iloilo City. This is the first time that Caltex has implemented the program in Cebu.

"Only students who have completed the four consecutive Saturdays will be allowed to graduate," Quebral said. "Education is one of the major focuses of the company. It is now our time to give back something to the community who have hosted us."

CMP is Chevron Philippines' flagship volunteer program that enables its employees, customers and business partners to share their personal time and talent for better education. It focuses on teaching public school students in reading with an aim to expand to science and math.

The program, which will be done in four Saturdays starting yesterday, will have a mentor-pupil ratio of 1:1. - Jasmin R. Uy