Marawi City, LANAO DEL SUR – The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) through the Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) has strengthened the Distance Learning Program (DLP) in the region as one of the approaches in improving poor access of children to basic education.

The DLP is one of the initiatives of the BEAM Project under its Component 3 – Increasing Access – which seek to grant opportunities for the school age children in the elementary level starting at Grade 3 to Grade 6 from far-flung and poor areas, to have access to formal basic education through the use of independent and self-paced learning modules. The program targets pupils at risk of dropping out or those who have stopped schooling due to various factors such as risks because of distance from school, poverty, absence of teachers, etc. 

In the pilot stage, two divisions in the ARMM composed of eight elementary schools are the beneficiaries since the program commenced in June of 2009. Schools-recipients under Maguindano Division are Datu Gumbay Piang Elementary School of Datu Piang, Dapiawan Elementary School of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Kalumamis Elementary School of Guindulungan, Pandan Elementary School of South Upi, Malangit Elementary School of Mamasapano and Libutan Elementary School of Datu Saudi Ampatuan. Bobo Elementary School and Piagapo Central Elementary School of Piagapo are the beneficiaries from Lanao del Sur IB Division.

In the turn-over ceremony of Distance Learning Modules and school supplies recently in Piagapo town here, Angelo Delgado, BEAM Project Development Officer  further stressed the significance of DLP for school age children. “The BEAM’s central objective is to address drop-out cases and absenteeism of these children in schools. These happen because these children were living in conflict-affected areas, their residences are distant from schools and some are working in the farms with their parents. Also eligible in the program are those children with physical difficulties or impairments,” Delgado said.

In the DLP, pupils work on their modules independently at their own pace and time. They only need to report at least twice a week in the school or a designated community learning center to receive new modules, submit their completed modules, interact with other learners and receive mentoring from a learning facilitator on some difficult lessons.

Delgado, as well, made clear the exclusion of Grades 1 and 2 in the DLP. He said that only children from Grade 3 to Grade 6 were recipients of the program as they were already in the “learning to read” stage of development.  “The beneficiaries are already readers because the modules are independent and interactive. Upon enrolment, the teacher conducts reading readiness assessment of students to determine their capacity to read the materials, follow instructions and complete the worksheets,” he said.

The modules all correspond to each learning competency in the Basic Education Curriculum thus a pupil enrolled in the DLP will not receive less lessons compared to those in the regular classes. 

More than 500 Distance Learning Modules are given to every school – five copies per learning area/subject (English, Math, Science, Filipino and Makabayan), per grade level (Grade 3 to Grade 6) and per grading period (1^st to 4^th Grading period). A total of 35,000 modules were already distributed.

BEAM Community Development Adviser and Deputy Australian Project Director, Ramon C. Bobier, is optimistic that “through the DLP, the problems of high dropout and low school participation rates shall be addressed particularly in remote and conflict-affected schools. The DLP was first successfully piloted and has been expanded in many remote schools in Region XI hence I am also confident that the program is appropriate and  will even be more useful in ARMM, Bobier said.