A panel in the House of Representatives has endorsed for plenary approval a substitute bill proposing to boost accessibility to education of underserved sectors of the country such as the out-of-school youth, persons with disabilities, indigenous people, and senior citizens by institutionalizing the alternative learning system.
The House Committee on Basic Education and Culture, chaired by Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo, approved the substitute measure, which is a consolidation of House Bill (HB) Nos. 1586, 4392, 917, and 1586 filed by Tingog Party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt Romualdez and House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez; San Jose del Monte City Rep. Florida Robes; Deputy Speaker and Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales; and Pangasinan Rep. Tyrone Agabas, respectively.
The bill is expected to contain amendments to be introduced during its plenary discussion, and approval later.
The House panel’s technical working group led by Rep. Yedda, the chairperson of the House Committee on the Welfare of Children, approved substitute bill institutionalizing the ALS.
In pushing for the approval of the ALS bill, Rep. Yedda cited the need to institutionalize ALS as a major component of the country’s basic education system with a clearly defined role within the overall education goals in the country, parallel to the formal education system.
“This bill intends to strengthen the ALS by defining it as other component of the Philippine educational system and by clearly defining its role within the education system of our country,” Rep. Yedda said.
She said when ALS was first introduced in 2001 following the enactment of Republic Act (RA) 9155, otherwise known as the Governance in Basic Education Act, thousands of out-of-school youth and persons in disadvantaged situations have benefited from it.
In the previous 17th Congress, the House of Representatives approved the ALS measure on third and final reading.
“In understanding the government’s ALS program and in processing and crafting the bill I proposed, I realized that many of these ALS learners are determined individuals who faced challenges or made sacrifices, which led them to stop formal schooling,” Rep. Yedda said.
The proposed ALS Act seeks to institute a mobile teacher program especially in far-flung, underserved and conflict-affected communities.
The bill defines the ALS as “a parallel learning system that provides an alternative learning arrangement to learners, who, for acceptable reasons to be determined by the Department of Education, cannot be admitted to the existing formal basic education.” It includes both the non-formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills. Maricel V. Cruz
Under the bill, ALS shall cover out-of-school children, youth and adults, persons with disabilities (PWDs), indigenous peoples (IPs), and other marginalized sectors of society, who either have none or limited access to formal schools, and who are usually located in far-flung communities, including those in areas with armed conflict.
The bill tasks the Secretary of Education, through the appropriate DepEd officer, to exercise general supervision and administration over the ALS programs.
It also mandates the DepEd to strengthen the implementation of Non-Formal Education (NFE) and Informal Education (InfEd).