The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has started releasing the cash-for-work (CFW) of college tutors and Youth Development Workers (YDWs) under the agency’s Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program, DSWD Assistant Secretary and Spokesperson Irene Dumlao said on Tuesday.
Dumlao said the current payout covers initial compensation for the first 10 sessions conducted by the program beneficiaries, where each tutor and YDW received PHP468 per day for the three-hour tutorial and parenting sessions they have conducted with the grade school learners and their parents.
“We have started distributing the first tranche of the cash-for-work of our college tutors and YDWs as the opening of classes is also approaching. This way, our beneficiaries can use their earnings for their school needs,” Dumlao said in a news release.
The Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program, the reformatted educational assistance of the DSWD, is an innovative project under the leadership of DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian.
“It is now a part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to enhance the educational support for college students coming from state or local universities and colleges and, at the same time, assist grade school learners who are struggling or non-readers,” Dumlao said.
The first to conduct the payout was DSWD Field Office-7 (Central Visayas) which was held on Monday.
“Tutoring sessions started on July 1 simultaneously in the implementing regions,” Dumlao said, adding that the rate of the CFW varies per region as it is based on the prevailing regional minimum wage rate.
After the pilot implementation in the National Capital Region (NCR) in 2023, the tutoring program is now in Regions 3 (Central Luzon), 7 (Central Visayas), 8 (Eastern Visayas), 10 (Northern Mindanao), 12 (Soccsksargen), and 4-A (Calabarzon).
DSWD Central Visayas Regional Director Shalaine Marie Lucero led the ceremonial payout to 642 tutors and YDWs from the Cebu Normal University (CNU), along with the Cebu City Chairperson of the Committee on Social Services and the CNU College of Teachers Education Dean, Dr. Venus Cortes.
The tutoring activities will run until July 26 with the completion of 20 sessions. (PNA)
