MORE than 68,000 students and parents have benefited from the pilot implementation of the Tara, Basa! Tutoring program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Through the program, elementary students underwent reading sessions while their parents and guardians were capacitated to become ‘Nanay-Tatay teachers’ based on the design of the DSWD’s tutoring program.

Parents and guardians who helped their children with learning and reading needs have received cash assistance worth P235 per day for 20 days.

DSWD Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs Irene Dumlao said that the agency has assisted 31,234 struggling and non-reader elementary learners and 31,207 parents and guardians.

The agency also served 6,101 second to fourth-year college students from select state universities and colleges, belonging to low-income families in which they were trained to become tutors and youth development workers.

These college students were paid P610 per session.

The program is expected to expand in 2024.

“With the remarkable results of the Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment and Quick English Reading Assessment conducted by the Department of Education that showed improvement in children’s reading abilities, the DSWD will bring the tutoring program in some cities and provinces outside Metro Manila,” Dumlao said.