The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has kicked-off its capability-building activities to equip a new batch of Tutors and Youth Development Workers (YDWs) for the implementation of the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program in Mandaue City, Cebu.
Some 242 tutors from the Cebu Normal University (CNU) joined the first day of the training on Monday (April 1), which was led by the DSWD’s Social Technology Bureau (STB) and Field Office-7, in cooperation with the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) and the Department of Education (DepED).
According to DSWD Assistant Secretary Irene B. Dumlao, the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program will help capacitate college students (tutors and YDWs) to gain skills that they can use in the future.
“Through the Tara, Basa! program, we are confident that college students will be more equipped and inspired to participate in nation-building because the program empowers the youth and provides an avenue for them to be compassionate and develop a sense of responsibility,” explained Asst. Sec. Dumlao, who is also the agency’s co-spokesperson.
Among the topics discussed in the training were the objectives and goals of Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program, proper execution of the tutorial sessions using the enhanced guidebook for tutors, and the administration of Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (CRLA) and Quick English Reading Assessment (QERA).
The DepEd uses the CRLA to identify a child’s reading profile and monitor their performance and progress, while the QERA is used to measure the English reading abilities of the children.
On March 8, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian led the scaled up implementation of Tara Basa in Cebu City.
This April, the tutoring program will also be launched in Quezon Province, Western Samar and General Santos City.
The Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program is the DSWD’s reformatted educational assistance that creates a learning ecosystem, wherein college students will be capacitated and deployed as Tutors and YDWs to help improve the reading proficiency of elementary students who are struggling to read or are non-readers. #
