Teaching people to fish

In this graduation season, the Department of Education shared a heartwarming story.

Last month at the Boston District in Davao Oriental, 33-year-old Lenivie Latiban finished kindergarten together with one of her children at the Buko-Buko Elementary School. This was under the DepEd’s non-formal Alternative Learning System. DepEd said Latiban now wants to pursue further education under ALS and finish elementary school.

Latiban could write her name, but reading was a struggle, and she could not understand communication in her cellphone. Wanting to upskill and help her kids with their studies, she attended kindergarten classes alongside one of her children as she juggled work in producing copra and hauling abaca.

While Latiban’s story is inspiring, it has its bittersweet aspect, highlighting the crisis in Philippine education. How many Filipinos remain largely illiterate in their 30s?

Her story also illustrates the continuing importance attached by Filipinos to formal education. More than state dole-outs or ayuda, many people see the importance of empowerment through the development of their own capabilities.

There is the popular proverb: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

ALS follows the K-12 curriculum, aiming to develop basic reading, writing and numeracy skills along with functional literacy. Apart from adults and the elderly, the program is open to persons with disabilities, out-of-school youths aged 12 and older, indigenous peoples and residents of marginalized communities.

Among the oldest ALS participants recorded was Jose Gaitan Gandecela, who finished junior high school in Guimaras at 90 years old in November 2018 – 77 years since World War II prevented him from proceeding to high school after he finished elementary school in March 1941 in Mandurriao, Iloilo City.

“Tatay Jose” took ALS classes from January to October 2017 and passed the accreditation and equivalency test on March 11, 2018 with a score of 81.60 percent.

As important as encouraging Filipinos of all ages to be educated, however, is the quality of learning. In this aspect, dramatic improvements are needed all around, to reverse the crisis in education and develop the nation’s human capital.