The 2015 “Education for All” national assessment of literacy in the Philippines reported that 12.3 million Filipinos ages 6-24 are not enrolled in school. Reasons range from high costs of education, unemployment, and lack of motivation. However, as asserted in the Dakar Framework of Action “all children, young people and adults have the human right to benefit from an education…geared to tapping each individual’s talents and potential, and developing learners’ personalities, so that they can improve their lives and transform their societies.”
GlobALS graduation ceremony in Nueva Ecija.
The Global Peace Foundation – Philippines is a committed stakeholder in efforts to meet the basic right to education, particularly to advance development and peace and advance the values and principles that create cohesive and prosperous societies. Since 2011 Global Peace Foundation – Philippines has partnered with the Philippines Department of Education (DepEd) to deliver the DepEd’s Alternative Learning System to out of school children, youths and adults students in remote areas of the island nation, improving the quality of life for marginalized groups coming from disadvantaged and underserved communities.
On the July 16, three Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) passers from the All-Lights Buenavista GlobALS program graduated with other A&E passers from Nueva Ecija. Ten days later, GlobALS celebrated twelve graduates of the Alternative Learning Systems program in Navotas City.
One graduate, Consuelo De Villa Dela Cruz, who participated in the Novatos City graduation, shared her feelings of accomplishments:
Consuelo De Villa Dela Cruz
Through this program and under your management as ALS implementers, you became the instrument for hope to spark again from among our less fortunate youths and for those like me who are old and yet have found great hope in improving our lives. For us who are poor, HOPE is all we have, and it is attained and endowed through EDUCATION.
I wish that this program will continue and it will reach the most unreachable communities of our nation so that all those who need it would find a way to improve their lives.
The GlobALS program made significant strides this year, including a newly opened chapter in the All-Lights Village Dumanas, which kicked off with 30 learners in both basic literacy and A&E programs. Challenges to enrollment and retention remain; however, GlobALS’ community-based approach of working together with local communities to deliver much needed opportunities for education continues deliver hope and opportunity year to year.
This graph is from the 2015 Philippines EFA Report.
