Quezon City Jail inmates will now be able to avail of the Alternative Learning System (ALS) program of the Division of City Schools following the issuance of an order to this effect by Mayor Herbert Bautista.
The ALS is a program of the Department of Education aimed at eradicating illiteracy among out-of-school youths and adults.
Bautista said the ALS needed to be expanded to cater to the educational needs of city residents including those detained in QC Jail, who have not had formal schooling.
He said many detainees did not even begin elementary school due to extreme poverty.
Bautista asked the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to verify the number of detainees who recently graduated from ALS so the city can help them pursue college or vocational studies in the city-owned Quezon City Polytechnic University and under the Technical Educations and Skills Development Authority.
“Let’s give them a chance to be productive individuals. Let’s make them role models to the citizenry. This move will not only help them as individuals but will also minimize crimes by keeping them busy,” the mayor said.
Bautista wants all ALS initiatives in QC be integrated and harmonized, including barangay-based training program, by the city’s social services development department and the scholarship program granted by the QCPU to underprivileged students.
The mayor wishes to produce graduates like Victor Principe, a former inmate at QC Jail who completed the ALS program with a grade of 99 percent in the recent ALS equivalency examination.
To date, a total of 9,760 were enrolled under the ALS program curriculum in QC.
