DepEd rolls out kariton klasrums

MANILA, Philippines - More than 100 mobile classrooms known as kariton klasrums will be deployed in Metro Manila, Cavite and Tacloban City for the benefit of street children and other out-of-school youth.

The Department of Education (DepEd)’s alternative mode of learning is patterned after the pushcart classroom of CNN “hero of the year” Efren Peñaflorida Jr.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the kariton klasrum program will allow children unable to enroll in the formal education system access to basic education.

“You cannot box all students in classrooms,” he said in Filipino.

“(Sometimes) we need to reverse the system and bring the schools to them.”

Education Undersecretary for Programs and Linkages Mario Deriquito said the project aims to prepare beneficiaries for integration into regular elementary and high schools.

Participants in the program will be assessed for readiness to join the public school system after six months, he added.

Deriquito said 106 mobile classrooms to be deployed in different sites in Metro Manila, Cavite and Tacloban City aim to serve some 5,300 children.

Each mobile classroom will be stocked with learners’ and teachers’ kits, health and hygiene packs, storybooks, educational reading materials and charts and meals good for 50 children.

Luistro said the DepEd aims to reach out to out-of-school youth and street children through the project.

“Children should not be required to adjust to our system of education,” he said. “It is the system of education that should address their needs.”