The Philippine Educators Alliance for Community Empowerment (PEACE) Party-list hailed the establishment of a new bureau under the Department of Education that would oversee the Alternative Learning System in the country.
“The Bureau of Alternative Education, as the focal point for implementing the Alternative Learning System Act, will play a crucial role in efforts to make our education system more inclusive,” PEACE party-list president and first nominee Marie Paz T. Abante said.
Abante expressed hope that the new bureau would produce immediate results, particularly in increasing the number of learners availing of the program amid a continued drop in ALS enrollment.
“We hope that the DepEd will ensure this new bureau will be adequately empowered to fulfill its mandate,” Abante added.
The DepEd established the new bureau through Department Order No. 47.
Besides serving as main implementer of the agency’s ALS program, the bureau is also tasked with strengthening and expanding the program to help increase opportunities for out-of-school youth and adult learners, including indigenous peoples, persons deprived of liberty, and persons with disabilities.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones said in a statement that the bureau’s establishment “will strengthen our initiatives, programs, and policies for the out-of-school children in special cases, youth, and adults as we ensure their educational continuity for them to be able to develop basic and functional literacy, life skills, and pursue an equivalent pathway to complete basic education.”
Abante expressed hope that the new bureau would produce immediate results, particularly in increasing the number of learners availing of the program amid a continued drop in ALS enrollment.
According to DepEd, as of November 18 ALS enrollment for school year 2021-2022 is only at 239,616 learners, far less than last year’s 599,365 enrollees.
“The BAE should work immediately on achieving parity with last year’s numbers, or better yet, improving upon them.”
“Now that our recovery from the pandemic is in the horizon, we want more learners coming into the fold so that they could gain the advantage of education to improve their lives and livelihood,” Abante, a long-time educator, said.
