Over 1,000 mobile teachers to be fielded in depressed barangays

MANILA, Philippines – Some 1,000 “mobile teachers” will be fielded in poor and isolated communities to give nearly 70,000 out-of-school youths and adults a chance to catch up with their basic education this year.

National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) chief Domingo Panganiban said 1,381 mobile teachers will be deployed by the Department of Education (DepEd) in far-flung barangays as part of a nationwide effort to expand educational opportunities for the poor under the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Mobile Teacher Program, which is targeting 69,050 beneficiaries this year.

The NAPC, under the Office of the President, is the lead monitoring and coordinating agency for the government’s anti-poverty programs.

“This DepEd program is in step with President Arroyo‘s vision for national unity through education and is implemented under the leadership of Secretary Jesli Lapus,” Panganiban said.

The NAPC chief said the ALS program allows out-of-school youths and undereducated adults access to alternative learning systems through mobile teachers who go from one remote community to another to provide free teaching services for poor and deprived folk.

Dr. Edel Carag of DepEd said the ALS mobile teachers are accorded regular items in the public school system.

“Apart from regular salaries, ALS mobile teachers receive allowances for transportation costs and necessary teaching aids,” she said.

A memorandum issued by the DepEd last month indicated that ALS mobile teachers and district coordinators receive an annual allowance of P5,000 each for teaching aids.

The same memo says the government affords each mobile teacher a transportation allowance of P2,000 a month.

“Classes under the ALS Mobile Teacher Program are sometimes held in chapels and barangay halls or in the homes of the beneficiaries, depending on the resources available to the community,” Carag said.

In a report to the NAPC, the DepEd’s Bureau of Alternative Learning Systems said some 20,291 Filipinos had completed learning courses under the program between September 2007 and January 2008.