SEN. Sherwin T. Gatchalian wants to enhance the Bangsamoro Region’s back-to-school program as a way of addressing enrollment woes in the said area.
Gatchalian lamented the low cohort survival rate in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Based on data from the Department of Education (DepEd) and analysis from the senator’s office, only 17 out of every 100 students who attended Grade 1 in School Year (SY) 2010-2011 completed Grade 12 in SY 2021-2022. This is by far lower than the national cohort-survival rate, where 51 out of 100 learners who attended Grade 1 in SY 2010-2011 completed Grade 12 in SY 2021-2022.
The senator was also disappointed that almost half a million youth in BARMM remain unenrolled. Numbers from the DepEd, as well as estimates from both the senator’s office and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), reveal that while enrollment in the said locality is at 991,243, 32 percent or 463,963 youth are non-matriculated.
Figures from the DepEd further revealed that only 6 percent, or 28,832 out-of-school youth, are enlisted under the alternative learning system (ALS).
Based on the PSA’s 2019 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey, the top reasons for non-attendance in schools among those aged 6 to 20 are lack of personal interest (34 percent) and the insufficiency of family income to send children to school (25.6 percent).
As chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Gatchalian sees the need to encourage parents and youth in BARMM to head back to and stay in school. In Filipino, he urged a house-to-house approach in ensuring that fellow Filipinos will not be denied their right to education.
For the back-to-school campaign implementation, the solon called for a collaboration with the BARMM’s Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education. He also pressed the need to visit every household—a move that he says should involve mayors, barangay captains, and other community leaders.
Gatchalian sought the development and implementation of projects that will keep children, especially Grades 1 to 6 learners, in school—including the school feeding program.
The senator also sought the strengthened implementation of the ALS program to enhance the skills and abilities of the current working population and out-of-school children and youth.
Gatchalian pitches for back-to-school scheme to hike BARMM enrollment
Source: News Paper Radio
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