Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian led the rollout of the expanded implementation of the agency’s Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program in Cebu City on Friday (March 8).
“We are very very happy to bring Tara, Basa to cities outside Metro Manila,” Secretary Gatchalian said during the kick-off activity at the Cebu City Hall.
The program’s expansion is a result of its successful pilot test in the National Capital Region (NCR) from August to November 2023 which, according to the DSWD Secretary, is a way for the Department “to incorporate education, into social welfare” that will uplift the conditions of the agency’s clientele.
“The President instructed us to transform the Department from purely social welfare to developmental because through development we can pull our people out of poverty. Yes, social welfare is important, but social welfare, as we know, is temporary. Developmental programs, like Tara, Basa!, are long-term and institutionalized,” the DSWD chief said in his short speech.
Highlighting the tutoring program’s success, Secretary Gatchalian noted that it has assisted struggling and non-reader elementary students with the “20-day after-school reading sessions” component.
The DSWD chief also underscored the significance of the program for college students from state and local universities and colleges who are in need of support for their studies.
“With this program, we extend to them the education assistance that they expect from the Department. So that’s the social welfare side,” Sec. Gatchalian pointed out.
Secretary Gatchalian expressed gratitude to the key partners for their commitment to ensuring the program’s success and effective implementation.
“I think the greatest thing that we can do together as a whole-of-nation approach is helping our children out of darkness, out of the illiteracy sphere that they are in. With reading, like, we can uplift the lives of our children out of poverty. But at the same time, we’re making something great happen,” Secretary Gatchalian said.
As part of the kick-off ceremony in Cebu City, Secretary Gatchalian signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, and State Universities and Colleges (SUC) represented by Cebu Normal University (CNU) President Dr. Daniel Ariaso Sr. for the city-wide implementation of the program.
The MOA signing was witnessed by DSWD Field Office-7 (Central Visayas) Regional Director Shalaine Marie S. Lucero, DSWD Central Visayas Social Technology Unit Head Ligaya Dael, CNU-College of Teacher Education Dean Dr. Venus Cortez, City Councilor Francis Esparis, Department of Education (DepEd)-Cebu City Division Schools Superintendent Dr. Nimfa Bongo, and Executive Director of Cebu Women and Family Affairs Commission Regina Lingaolingao.
Officials and representatives of the DSWD, Cebu City government, DepEd, SUCs also signified their commitment and support for the implementation of the agency’s Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program in the city by signing the pledge of commitment book during the ceremonial kick-off.
Program scale-up
Aside from Cebu City, the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program will also be implemented in Bulacan province, Malolos City, San Jose del Monte City, Quezon province, Western Samar, Taraka and Marawi Cities in Lanao del Sur, and General Santos City. The program will also continue to be implemented in the NCR.
With this scale up, over 180,700 beneficiaries which include grade school learners, parents, tutors, and youth development workers (YDWs) from the target expansion areas will benefit from the program.
Under the program, struggling and non-reading elementary students are given learning and reading sessions by tutors while their parents and guardians are given Nanay-Tatay learning sessions by youth development workers (YDWs).
The parents and guardians of the children-beneficiaries are provided with cash-for-work (CFW) by the DSWD for attending the Nanay-Tatay sessions and for assisting their children in preparing their needs for learning and reading and in their after-reading assignments
In exchange for their service in conducting learning and reading sessions, the tutors and YDWs, who are college students enrolled in state and local universities and colleges, are provided with educational support through the CFW mechanism.
The Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program is the reformatted educational assistance of the DSWD that creates an ecosystem of learning wherein college students will be capacitated and deployed as tutors to teach poor and non or struggling readers in elementary and as YDWs to conduct Nanay-Tatay learning sessions. #
