People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
Non-Formal and Adult Education in the Philippines
Cooperation amidst Diversity
Ramon G. Mapa
PILCD
July 27, 2010
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
PILCD is a non government organization
working on community-based adult education
It is based in Baguio City – Cordillera
Administrative Region (CAR)
A member of the Asia Pacific Association for
Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE)
Board Secretary of the Civil Society Network for
Education Reforms (E-Net Philippines)
Member and convenor of the NGO Consultative
Assembly of the Governments National Literacy
Coordinating Council (LCC)
Member of the Regional Literacy Coordinating
Council - (CAR)
Long term partner of dvv international in the
Philippines
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
The Philippines
The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands with a
geographic area of 299,764 square kilometres.
The country is divided into three geographical areas:
Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
There are 17 regions, 81 provinces, 136 cities, 1,494
municipalities and 41,995 barangays, the basic unit of
the Philippine political system.
The country has some 80 major ethno-linguistic groups
and more than 500 dialects spoken.
Filipino and English are the official languages.
Population is 88,574,614 as of August 2007
Philippine Education System
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
Schools are classified into public (government) or
private (non-government).
The general pattern of formal education follows four
stages: Pre-primary level (nursery and
kindergarten) offered in most private schools; six
years of primary or elementary education,
followed by four years of secondary or high
school education.
College education usually takes four years or more
depending on the type of course.
Tri-Focalized System of Education:
1.
2.
3.
Basic Education by the Department of
Education
Technical and vocational education by the
Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA)
Higher Education by the Commission on Higher
Education (CHED)
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
Non-Formal and Adult Education in the
Philippines: Cooperation amidst Diversity
The 2003 Functional Literacy,
Education and Mass Media
Survey (FLEMMS) showed that:
out of an estimated 58 million Filipinos
aged 10 to 64 years old, around 9
million are functionally illiterate or
unable to compute and lacked
certain numeracy skills.
The Survey likewise indicated that one in every 10
Filipinos aged 6 years and over had no formal
education.
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
Non-Formal and Adult Education in the
Philippines: Cooperation amidst Diversity
National Government Programs
1.
Alternative Learning System Program of the Department of Education through its Bureau of
Alternative Learning System (BALS)
2.
Technical and Vocational Education through TESDA
3.
Through extension programs of Government Departments (e.g. Department of Agriculture,
Department of Health)
Local Government Unit Programs through its Departments (e.g. Municipal Social Welfare
Office, Municipal Health Office)
Non Government Organizations Alternative and Community-based Education Programs
implemented in various themes and from varied contexts – democracy, governance, empowerment,
participation, women’s rights, environment, livelihood, etc.
Some are education programs in its own right and majority are part or a component of a larger
community development intervention program.
The term “alternative learning practices” evolved from the practice of civil society and nongovernment sector advocating for an alternative agenda of people empowerment and social
transformation.
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
Non-Formal and Adult Education in the
Philippines: Cooperation amidst Diversity
Areas of Government and non-Government Cooperation
Literacy Coordinating Councils (LCC)
The LCC is an inter-agency body that focuses on policy formulation and advocacy in the promotion
and implementation of literacy programs. NGO’s are part of the LCC
Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS)
Formerly named as the Bureau of Non Formal Education (BNFE), BALs is taking the lead in the
implementation of the Basic Literacy Program and the Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E)
Program through its Alternative Learning system Program
Local Government Units
Thematic programs on health, youth, agriculture etc. under its department office such as the
mucicpal social welfare and development office, etc.
Community-based Alternative Learning & Development
Programme
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
•
started in 2003 in cooperation with dvv international
•
Primarily, the program provides adults and youth in
remote and poor rural communities who have limited or
no experience of education, with alternative learning
opportunities to enhance their literacy skills;
•
Target groups are adults and youths who were
marginalized from the mainstream education mainly due
to poverty and isolation;
•
implemented in the province of Benguet - a mountainous
area and is one of the six provinces under the Cordillera
Administrative Region (CAR). It is home to various
Indigenous People’s tribes collectively known as Igorots.
Community-based Alternative Learning & Development
Programme
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
The program aims to:
•
Enhance the levels of literacy among marginalized and
vulnerable individuals and social groups/communities;
•
Use literacy skills development as an instrument of
poverty alleviation, sustainable community development
and environmental protection;
•
Enhance the capacity of marginalized communities to
engage in sustainable livelihood activities including
agricultural production;
•
promote community self-organization; and
•
Empower marginalized communities and vulnerable
groups and individuals to participate actively in sociopolitical civic life.
Community-based Alternative Learning & Development
Programme
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
Innovative Features
Literacy is integrated with the development of skills and capacities of
learners to engage in self-help and collective socio-economic
activities, such as managing income-generating projects and initiating
community actions that address common challenges.
The program uses the “action-reflection” approach using groupbased methodologies of the ADIDS model (Activity-Discussion- InputDeepening-Synthesis). An approach similar to REFLECT
Learning activities ranges from the traditional lecture discussion with
multimedia presentations to group based activities, modular-based
learning, field demonstrations, games and creative arts taking into
consideration the participants learning styles and contexts.
A significant approach being employed is the “action learning model”
where learning by doing dominates the over-all learning process. In
this approach, participants are engaged in simulated or actual project
activities where they take part in the over-all project development
process.
Community-based Alternative Learning & Development
Programme
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
Partnerships
Coordination and cooperation with government departments, state
university and NGOs involved in community development activities.
Provincial and local government units especially with their respective
Literacy Coordinating Councils for purposes of advocacy;
the Social Welfare and Development Office especially in the case of
the out of school youths in high risk situations;
the Regional and local offices of the Department of Education through
their Bureau of Alternative Learning System in the Alternative Learning
Contracting Scheme;
Benguet Sate University on the Sustainable Agriculture Education; and
local offices of the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA) on technical-vocational trainings
Establishing linkages with other NGO’s and agencies for the farmers
and women self-help groups to expand network of support for their
community projects i.e. farmers group linked with Organic Producers
Cooperative in the capital town, women self-helped linked with the
Australian Embassy’s Direct Aid Program
Community-based Alternative Learning & Development
Programme
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
The program is anchored on five key learning areas:
1.
Literacy and numeracy - basic and functional;
2.
Life skills – interpersonal and intrapersonal skills;
3.
Livelihood and productivity;
4.
Critical thinking; and
5.
Development perspectives - local and global.
These 5 learning areas are integrated in three major themes:
(1) Basic and Functional Literacy
(2) Capacity Development of Self-Help Groups
(3) Sustainable Agriculture Education
Learning themes are defined based on the target learners
and the community’s needs
Community-based Alternative Learning & Development
Programme
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
From 2004 to 2009, 258 learners have passed the national A&E test
and have been certified as high school graduates.
Others have managed to secure formal employment and some
continue to take up college education through self-support and with
the help of their families and relatives.
Many of these out of school youths after completing the program are
actively involved with PILCD’s advocacy and campaign activities on
literacy and education for all (EFA).
The program has had a significant impact economic empowerment
and the improvement of quality of life – installation of water system
project; micro-livelihood project and conversion to organic farming
practices.
The program recently won the 2010 EAEA Grundtvig Award for
Project Outside Europe Category
The Challenge Ahead
People’s Initiative for
Learning & Community
Development
Mainstream public schools, even in the best of circumstances, are
largely unable to meet these educational needs even as effective nonschooling methodologies for meeting these different needs rapidly
developed.
Thus, the country now aspires to evolving an alternative learning
system (alternative and complementary to schools) that is
organized and governed in order to provide choices for learning
not just as a remedy for school failure but as an addition even to
good schools.
“The emergence of the transformation of existing nonformal and informal learning options into a truly viable
alternative learning system”
Source: Philippine EFA Plan