‘Abot Alam’ DepEd-NYC program goes nationwide, aims for zero out-of-school youths

(Updated 12:43 p.m.) A program headed by the Department of Education and National Youth Commission hopes to go one step further in "eradicating" out-of-school youths (OSYs) by 2016, with the launching of its nationwide implementation.

 

Dubbed "Abot-Alam," the inter-agency convergence effort seeks to locate OSYs and enroll them in program interventions in education, entrepreneurship, and employment.

 

“To date, we have mapped over 1.2 million OSYs in our database—complete with names, birthdates, addresses, highest educational attainment, and their aspirations,” said Education Secretary Armin Luistro.

 

Luistro said some 76,000 of them have already been enrolled in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) program, Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM), done skills training, or are employed.

 

The goal is to make sure OSYs aged 15 to 30 will get a chance to finish high school and acquire the needed skills to be productive.

 

Among the early implementors of the program were Bohol, Dasmariñas in Cavite, and Nagcarlan in Laguna.

 

For his part, Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Bill Tweddell said education is "a critical component of human development which in turn is necessary for economic growth."

 

"This is why Australia supports the Department of Education in its efforts to reform education to provide inclusive social and economic development in the country,” said Tweddell.

 

For his part, NYC Commissioner and TV personality Jose Sixto "Dingdong" Dantes III stressed the collaboration with partners in engaging ordinary citizens to adopt an OSY and ensure that they are enrolled in the Abot-Alam program.

Meanwhile, the NYC said Abot-Alam, launched in 2013, is one of its flagship projects.

The NYC, in a press release, said reintegrating the OSYs in their communities is a concrete step towards inclusive development via President Benigno Aquino III's Daang Matuwid, “a path where nobody gets left behind.”

It called for local government units to adopt the Abot Alam national campaign and strategy, as well as its many localized programs, and to commit in eliminating the incidence of OSY’s. —Joel Locsin/KG, GMA News