IN PREPARATION for this year’s implementation of Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) conducts capability building among second to fourth-year college student-beneficiaries from select state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local government-run universities in participating regions nationwide.

“Under the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program, college students will be engaged as tutors and youth development workers (YDWs). Student-tutors will hold reading sessions for struggling and non-reader elementary learners while the YDWs will conduct Nanay-Tatay teacher sessions for parents and guardians of the grade school program beneficiaries,” DSWD Asst. Secretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Irene Dumlao, who is also the agency spokesperson, said on Wednesday (26 June 2024).

To date, some 3,881 tutors and YDWs have been trained on how to properly demonstrate effective teaching techniques among struggling and non-reading elementary learners, and their parents and guardians.

Guidebooks and manuals to be used by tutors and YDWs were also introduced and discussed during the capacity building activities.

“We are done with the pilot testing and saw remarkable results among the beneficiaries. For this year, we have expanded the program and partnered with the different local government units in Regions 3 (Central Luzon), 7 (Central Visayas), 8 (Eastern Visayas), 10 (Northern Mindanao), 12 (SOCCSKSARGEN), CALABARZON, and National Capital Region,” Dumlao disclosed.

According to the DSWD spokesperson, the agency is targeting 85,213 elementary learners, together with their parents and guardians, 8,522 tutors, and 1,768 YDWs for the program from the said regions.

Community assemblies were being conducted to orient parents of incoming Grade 2 learners on the guidelines of the program. The assembly also serves as a venue for parents to raise concerns and seek clarifications regarding the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program.

“To strengthen the family and community support system of elementary learners who are struggling to read or are non-readers, parents and guardians of the elementary student-beneficiaries, who are the first teachers to their children, will have to attend Nanay-Tatay teacher sessions,” Dumlao further said.

Parents and guardians of the elementary learners will receive cash aid for attending the Nanay-Tatay teacher sessions and rendering assistance in preparing the needs of their children for learning and reading sessions, and assisting them in their after-reading session assignments, as well as other related activities.

The DSWD has also started the distribution of kits to tutors and YDWs, designed to enhance the effectiveness of the program. The kits include essential teaching tools and resources such as metacards, chalks and markers, among others.

“We will also provide school supplies like crayons, notebooks, pencils, and erasers to elementary learners,” the DSWD spokesperson said.

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.