The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to conduct capability building for college student-beneficiaries of select state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local government-run universities for this year’s implementation of the “Tara, Basa!” Tutoring Program.
“Under the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program, college students will be engaged as tutors and youth development workers (YDWs),” DSWD spokesperson Irene Dumlao said in a news release on Wednesday.
“Student-tutors will hold reading sessions for struggling and non-reader elementary learners while the YDWs will conduct Nanay-Tatay teacher sessions for parents and guardians of the grade school program beneficiaries,” she added.
To date, about 3,881 tutors and YDWs have been trained on how to properly demonstrate effective teaching techniques among struggling and non-reading elementary learners, and their parents and guardians.
Dumlao, also assistant secretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG), said guidebooks and manuals to be used by tutors and YDWs, respectively, were also introduced and discussed during the capacity-building activities.
“We are done with the pilot testing and saw remarkable results among the beneficiaries. For this year, we have expanded the program and partnered with the different local government units in Regions 3 (Central Luzon), 7 (Central Visayas), 8 (Eastern Visayas), 10 (Northern Mindanao), 12 (Soccsksargen), Calabarzon, and National Capital Region,” she said.
The agency is targeting 85,213 elementary learners, together with their parents and guardians, 8,522 tutors, and 1,768 YDWs for the program from these regions.
Dumlao said community assemblies were being conducted to orient parents of incoming Grade 2 learners on the guidelines of the program.
The assembly also serves as a venue for parents to raise concerns and seek clarifications regarding the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program, she added.
“To strengthen the family and community support system of elementary learners who are struggling to read or are non-readers, parents, and guardians of the elementary student-beneficiaries, who are the first teachers to their children, will have to attend Nanay-Tatay teacher sessions,” Dumlao said.
Parents and guardians of the elementary learners will receive cash aid for attending the Nanay-Tatay teacher sessions and rendering assistance in preparing the needs of their children for learning and reading sessions, and assisting them in their after-reading session assignments, as well as other related activities.
The DSWD has also begun the distribution of kits to tutors and YDWs, designed to enhance the effectiveness of the program. The kits include essential teaching tools and resources, such as metacards, chalks, and markers.
“We will also provide school supplies like crayons, notebooks, pencils, and erasers to elementary learners,” Dumlao said.
The Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program is the DSWD’s reformatted educational assistance that creates a learning ecosystem, wherein college students will be capacitated and deployed as tutors and YDWs to help improve the reading proficiency of elementary students who are struggling to read or are non-readers. (PNA)
