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THE
Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday blamed
insurgency as one of the reasons for the increasing
number of out-of-school youths.
Education Undersecretary Ramon Bacani said that poverty
is not the sole reason why students drop out of school,
and that armed conflict in some areas, particularly in
Mindanao, is a major factor.
A 2004
World Bank study showed that 18 of Mindanao’s 24
provinces are seriously affected by communist and
separatist rebellions.
Bacani
disclosed that a recent DepEd study showed that some 8
percent of the estimated actual number of new students
do not enroll. The study said that two million of the
six million out-of-school youths belong to the six to
15-year-old bracket.
“Kung
walang peace and order ang lugar o may digmaan,
hindi na papasok sa paaralan ang mga kabataan dahil sa
takot,” Bacani said, stressing the importance of
maintaining peace and order all over the country.
Asked to
comment on the reported eight million dropouts and
out-of- school youths, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus
said the education department has intensified the
implementation of the Alternative Learning System (ALS)
to address the problem.
He added
that the ALS includes a nonformal education program and
will soon add a cyber-education pro-ject that aims to
reach at least some 30,000 schools in far-flung areas in
the country.
ALS
provides out-of-school youths with basic education and
life skills training to enable them to rejoin the formal
school system, if they want to, later. |
