THE DEPARTMENT of Education said that more than 4 million out-of-school youth and adults enrolled in the Alternative Learning System program during the administration of Education Secretary Leonor Briones.

“We are happy that the enrollment rate of the Alternative Learning system has gone up through the years. The ALS is an important legacy of the Duterte Administration. This is the first program that President Rodrigo Duterte gave his full support and special attention to,” Briones said.

“The numbers have shown that the Department has been putting concerted effort to reach out OSYAs nationwide and give them a chance to have a diploma in all basic education levels,” the DepEd chief added.

Based on the report of Assistant Secretary for Alternative Learning System G.H. Ambat, the enrollment numbers during the current administration are 80.32 percent higher than the past two administrations on a yearly average.

DepEd also said that 288 public schools and two private schools from 10 regions now implement the ALS-Senior High School program to provide more opportunities to the OSYAs.

On December 23, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11510 institutionalizing the ALS program and creating the Bureau of Alternative Learning System, which will ensure that no learners are left behind by providing a parallel learning system for non-formal education.

“DepEd would like to extend its gratitude to our partners in the legislature, especially the Senate Committee on Basic Education chaired by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, House Committee on Basic Education and Culture Representative Roman Romulo, House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, and Tingog Partylist Representative Yedda Marie Romualdez, for championing the right of every Filipino to quality basic education, whether through formal or non-formal means of instruction,” Briones said.