College students from low-income families who will volunteer either as early-grade reading tutors or as youth development workers can earn P570 a day under the government’s revamped educational assistance program.
Volunteer tutors for first graders will be tapped under the pilot phase of the “Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program,” a partnership between the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) that will run for 20 days, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said on Wednesday.
The program will start on Aug. 15, according to Vice President Sara Duterte, who signed the memorandum of agreement with Gatchalian in her concurrent capacity as education secretary.
“At the end of 20 days, DepEd will give a post-test to measure whether the students learned to read,” Gatchalian told reporters at the signing held at Rizal High School in Pasig City.
10 kids per tutor
He said the DSWD had coordinated with 20 state universities to identify target beneficiaries, mainly college students in their junior and senior years who are in need of extra income.
The DSWD has identified 6,000 beneficiaries who will serve either as tutors or as youth development workers.
The volunteer teachers will help hone the reading skills of more than 63,000 first graders from 490 elementary schools in Metro Manila. Gatchalian said each tutor will be assigned to 10 pupils for two hours a day for 20 days.
The youth development workers, on the other hand, will help conduct another component of the program called “Nanay-Tatay teacher sessions.” The topics here include understanding the self as a parent, dynamics of the Filipino family, challenges in parenting, child development and children’s rights.
For parents, too
Parents and guardians who will attend the sessions will each receive cash aid worth P235 a day for 20 days.
“We know that parents are our first teachers at home, so in this program, they will also participate through the Nanay-Tatay teacher [sessions]. We will teach them [how] to be the first teachers in their homes,” Gatchalian said.
He added that if the pilot program becomes successful, he and Duterte would consider expanding it to other areas.