Out-of-school girls in Eastern Visayas will soon have a place to learn with the construction of Girls Education Center through a partnership of Department of Education (DepEd), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
Officials joined the groundbreaking of the facility at the DepEd regional office complex in Palo, Leyte on Wednesday.
It is for young female learners who have no opportunity to go through regular classes due to extreme poverty. It is up for completion in December this year.
UNESCO Jakarta Office national project officer Remegio Alquitran said during the event that female learners of Alternative Learning System (ALS) in Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte will benefit from the facility with computer rooms and laboratory.
The facility is the first of its kind in the country and a pilot project of DepEd. It can accommodate 30 learners in one class.
Alquitran said the USD1 million funds for the construction of the building and provision of the equipment are provided by KOICA with technical assistance from UNESCO.
The facility is part of the post-“Yolanda” assistance of UNESCO and KOICA to Eastern Visayas and a component of the “Better Life for Out-of-School Girls to Fight Against Poverty and Injustice in the Philippines” program launched in 2017.
The initiative seeks to increase the passing rate among out-of-school girls in the Accreditation and Equivalency Test, improve ALS experience, upgrade the ALS mobile teachers’ skills, and develop new teaching and learning materials.
“It’s actually a learning resource that will provide capacity building to the ALS learners in particular. They will come here since the community learning centers where they attend classes have no equipment,” he added.
Alquitran said the facility focuses more on providing education assistance to girls who are mostly left behind as most families prefer to provide education to male children.
Based on studies, girls who are given better chance in education are more likely to finish a college degree, he said.
Although the center mainly focuses on helping girls ALS learners, Alquitran said DepEd may also expand the program to boys once it is turned over to them.
He added that if this will become successful, the education department may also replicate the program in other regions in the country.
DepEd Eastern Visayas regional director Gemma Ledesma said they see the program as life-changing for many girls.
“I would be able to witness how this inspiring project of UNESCO and KOICA will change the lives of our out-of-school girls. This will truly bring hope to the entire youth of the region especially the disadvantaged learners,” Ledesma told officials. (PNA)
