Posted on by Digital Media Service

Some 100 grade school student-beneficiaries of the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program received free self-adjusting eyeglasses from the St. Luke’s Medical Center Foundation Inc., a key partner of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), at the Malinta Elementary School on Wednesday (December 13).
The recipients of the free eyeglasses are part of the 31,234 struggling and non-reader elementary learners who benefited from the pilot implementation of the tutoring program which started in August.
“The DSWD is very thankful to our partners from the St. Luke’s Medical Center Foundation Inc. for giving these free eyeglasses to the students. These will not only give them a clear vision but will also give them the opportunity to have a brighter future,” Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs and DSWD co-spokesperson Irene B. Dumlao said.
The eyeglasses beneficiaries are from the different elementary schools in Valenzuela City, including the Silvestre Lazaro Elementary School (ES), San Miguel Heights ES, Apolonia F. Rafael ES, Roberta de Jesus ES,  Maysan ES, Wawang Pulo ES,  Gen. T. de Leon ES,  Paltok ES, Paso de Blas ES, Canumay ES, Rincon ES, Antonio M. Serapio, Constantino ES, Punturin ES, Arcadio F. Deato ES, Parada ES, Pio Valenzuela ES, Tagalog ES, A. Fernando ES, A. C. Faustino ES, Canumay West ES, Luis Francisco ES, Pinalagad ES, P. R. San Diego ES, and the Malinta ES.
The provision of eyeglasses is one of the components of the DSWD’s Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program to ensure that struggling and non-reader elementary students achieve better educational and health outcomes.
The DSWD is in the process of expanding the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program to some cities and provinces outside the National Capital Region (NCR) in 2024 due to the positive results of the Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (CRLA) and Quick English Reading Assessment (QERA) conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd).
The CRLA is used to monitor the performance and progress of the learners and QERA is used to measure the students’ English reading abilities.#