By Sammy F. Martin
MANILA, July 15 (PNA) — A young veteran solon wants to make a final push to institutionalize and strengthen the “Kariton Klasrum” project of the Department of Education (DepEd) to reach out to street children, out-of-school youth and school dropouts.
Las Piñas City Rep. Mark A. Villar, chairman of the House Committee on Trade and Industry, said DepEd first launched “Kariton Klasrum” in 2012 through its Alternative Delivery Modes (ADM) Program to address the needs of the hard-to-reach learners and out-of-school children and youth.
Patterned after 2009 CNN Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida’s “Kariton Klasroom,” DepEd’s “Kariton Klasrum” is designed as a pushcart with drawers and back pockets for storage of instructional and learning materials such as books, test booklets, charts, number puzzles, flash cards, notebooks, pencils, ballpens, crayons and other school supplies.
The “Kariton Klasrum” does not seek to replace the regular schools but to entice the children to get back to school, according to Villar.
“The project aims to achieve a 100-percent passing rate in order for the beneficiary children to be re-integrated into the mainstream or regular schools,” Villar said.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR) and DepEd have signed a Memorandum of Agreement for the implementation of the “Kariton Klasrum.” DepEd has already identified 27 areas in 14 local government units in NCR as new “Kariton Klasrum” sites.
In his House Resolution 1867, Villar asked the House Committee on Basic Education to institutionalize and strengthen DepEd’s “Kariton Klasrum” project to reach out to the street children, out-of-school youth and school dropouts, whose number continues to rise.
Data from the DSWD in 2013, showed there were 5,275 street children and out-of-school youth in Metro Manila alone, Villar pointed out.
“To promote the welfare of our children, the committee should review the project with the end in view of institutionalizing and strengthening DepEd’s ADM program,” Villar emphasized.
.In 2013, President Benigno S. Aquino III signed into law Republic Act 10618, also known as the Rural Farms School Act, to establish rural farm schools to provide alternative delivery mode of education to children in rural, agricultural or fishing communities.
Section 6 of RA 10618 provides that the curriculum of the rural farm schools shall follow the core secondary education curriculum of DepEd with add-on courses focused on Agri-Fishery Arts. (PNA)