TO provide short term employment to poor college students in the country as well as promote reading comprehension among young students, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in coordination with the Department of Education (DepEd), will launch today the “Tara Basa!” tutoring program.
The reformatted educational assistance program of the DSWD seeks to help and provide assistance to college students from low-income families who are in difficult situations, and at the same time assist struggling or non-reader grade school learners who are vulnerable, at risk, or are experiencing long COVID-19 effects.
“Through (the) ‘Tara, Basa!’ tutoring program, it is our goal to increase the involvement of college students from low-income families in nation-building while helping them in completing their tertiary education. The program also aims to address the learning losses to reduce vulnerability among children and mitigate the scarring caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the eight-point socio-economic agenda of the Marcos administration,” DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said.
Under the program, college students will teach struggling or non-reader Grade 1 students who belong to low-income households and are currently enrolled in public schools for 20 days and receive a payment of P570 per day. The fees will be sourced from the agency’s cash for work program.
The college students, who will be trained by the DSWD to become tutors and youth development workers, will also conduct Nanay-Tatay-Teacher sessions for parents and guardians on effective parenting, with topics such as understanding the self as parent, dynamics of the Filipino family, challenges in parenting, child development, and children’s rights, among others.
Parents and guardians of struggling or non-reader elementary learners will also receive cash aid worth P 235 per day for 20 days by rendering assistance in preparing the needs of their children for learning and reading sessions, assisting them in their after-reading session assignments, and attending parent effectiveness sessions as well as other related activities.
