Mindanaotoday.com | DepEd expands ALS, cuts increasing OSYs
The estimated 90 thousand out-of-school youth (OSYs) in Northern Mindanao, particularly those who have dropped out from high school, may complete secondary education as the Department of Education (DepEd) in the region announced it has expanded Alternative Learning System for Senior High School (ALS-SHS) to 140 formal schools from 35 last year.
ALS, a parallel learning system to formal education, provides a second chance program for OSY and adult learners to develop basic and functional literacy skills leading to completion of basic education, in a manner, time and place suitable to their preferences and circumstances.
Arturo Bayocot, DepEd Northern Mindanao director, in Regional Memorandum No. 0649 series of 2023, said the 140 “formal schools oversee the assignment of teachers, provision of learning resources, creation of suitable learning environments, and registration of learners in the Learners Information System (LIS).”
Bayocot advised school heads and ALS teachers to consolidate their enrollees into one class which must also be reflected as a single section in the LIS which is an online facility that provides for the registration of learners enrolled in schools run or licensed by DepEd. It is the national registry of all learners in basic education.
Among the 14 divisions of schools, Misamis Oriental has the highest number of ALS-SHS with 45, followed by Bukidnon 16, Iligan 15, Misamis Occidental 10, Lanao del Norte 8, Ozamiz and Valencia 7 each, Malaybalay 6, Gingoog and Oroquieta 5 each, El Salvador 4, Tangub 3, and Camiguin 2.
In Cagayan de Oro, those offering ALS-SHS are Agusan National High School (NHS), Bulua NHS, Cagayan de Oro NHS, Dansolihon NHS, Lapasan NHS, Lumbia NHS with Cagayan de Oro City Jails Male and Female Dormitories, and Puerto NHS.
These schools offer strands under academic and technical-vocational-livelihood (TVL) tracks. Strands under the academic tracks are accountancy, business, and management (ABM); science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); humanities and social sciences (HumSS; and general academic.
Agricultural fishery arts, home economics, industrial arts, and information and communication technology strands are under the TVL track.
There were only 35 formal schools last school year that offered ALS for all grade levels of basic education involving more than 500 teachers, Regional ALS Focal Person Ray Butch Mahinay said.
Total enrolment was 15,824 including 735 senior high school students (Grades 11 and 12). Of these, there were 10,508 in junior high school (Grades 7, 8, 9 and 10) and they must be taken in this school year as SHS learners.
Mahinay said they have requested for additional items for ALS teachers as well as the corresponding budget from DepEd Central Office. SHS teachers are being tapped for ALS-SHS for the meantime whose services are credited for their service credits.
He recalled that when ALS-SHS was piloted in Cagayan de Oro City in 2018, it was held at the City Jail at Barangay Lumbia when there were 19 enrollees who eventually graduated. This, aside from those who enrolled at the Rehabilitation Center in Barangay Puerto.
###