SENATOR Win Gatchalian is seeking to strengthen the Alternative Learning System as part of the education sector’s recovery efforts from the Covid19 pandemic, especially in reaching out to more than four million learners who did not enroll this coming school year to give them a second chance.

Though the economic downturn and fears of the virus are causing a spike in the number of out-of-school children and youth, Gatchalian explained that the ALS program will bridge these learn-ers’ reintegration in the formal school system when the virus is suppressed and the economy bounces back.

ALS is the Department of Education’s parallel learning system that increases learning opportuni-ties for out-of-school youth, adults, and children in special extreme cases. It also covers those who cannot access formal education due to economic, geographic, political, cultural, and social barriers. These include persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, children in conflict with the law, persons deprived of liberty, migrant workers, and other marginalized sectors.

According to Gatchalian, DepEd should tap the ALS program in a final stretch to reach learners who are at risk of dropping out of school. He pointed out that enrollment turnout for ALS has been dismal for this school year.

As of August 27, there are 361,398 ALS learners enrolled for this school year, which is only 49 percent of the 738,929 learners enrolled last year.

Based on the World Bank’s May 2018 Philippines Education Note, at least 24 million Filipinos aged 15 and above have not completed basic education.

“Ang ALS program na ito ang sasalo sa mga hindi makakapag-aral. Importanteng may mekanismo na sasalo sa kanila. ‘Di pwedeng putulin yung paghihikayat na pumasok itong mga out-of-school youth,” said Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts, and Culture.

Gatchalian is the principal author and sponsor of Senate Bill 1365 or the ALS Act, which will insti-tutionalize ALS under the proposed Bureau of Alternative Education and put up an ALS Commu-nity Learning Center in every city and municipality, making the program more accessible to po-tential enrollees.

Like DepEd’s Basic Education-Learning Continuity Plan, the proposed measure also utilizes a mix of learning modalities such as digital learning, modular instruction, and radio and television-based instructions, among others.

“Sa pagbangon ng ating sektor ng edukasyon mula sa pandemya ng Covid19, mahalagang mabigyan natin ng pangalawang pagkakataon ang mga naudlot ang pag-aaral. Sa pamamagitan ng ALS, hindi lamang mga kabataan ang ating aabutin, mabibigyan natin ng pangalawang pagkakataon ang bawat Pilipinong napagkaitan ng edukasyon,” Gatchalian said.