A World Bank 2022 report revealed that the Philippines’ rate of learning poverty stood at 91 percent. This means a huge number of Filipino children aged 10 were unable to read and understand age-appropriate texts. 

To address this concern, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. approved the MATATAG Agenda initiated by the Department of Education in January 2023. 

The MATATAG Agenda aims to MAke the curriculum relevant to produce job-ready, active, and responsible citizens; TAke steps to accelerate the delivery of basic education services and provision facilities; TAke good care of learners by promoting learner well-being, inclusive learning, and positive learning environment; and Give support for teachers to teach better.

Among the strategies being implemented is Catch-Up Friday. These are non-graded sessions that empower learners' capacity in reading, writing, analysis, critical thinking, and others that need to be “caught up.” 

Catch-Up Friday will now be complemented by Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program which is being piloted in various areas nationwide. In Central Luzon, a total of 13,188 incoming Grade 2 pupils in Bulacan will benefit from the initiative. They were identified as those struggling to read or are non-readers.

Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program is the reformatted educational assistance of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) that creates an ecosystem of learning wherein college students will be capacitated and deployed as tutors to teach poor and non or struggling readers in public elementary schools and as Youth Development Workers (YDWs) to conduct Nanay-Tatay learning sessions.

DSWD Undersecretary for Innovations Eduardo Punay emphasized that the program provides a good learning opportunity for college students to participate in nation building by helping young children to read and teaching parents on how they can improve the reading proficiency of their children at home.

“We will not allow children here in the town of poets to have difficulty reading. We have the same beliefs with our national hero, Jose Rizal, that the youth is the hope of our nation, so it is only right that we equip them with knowledge and readiness towards a prosperous New Philippines,” the official pressed.

About 1,583 students from Bulacan State University, Bulacan Polytechnic College, and the City College of San Jose Del Monte will benefit from the cash-for-work program in exchange for their service as tutors and YDWs.

Bulacan is not only known as the birthplace of our Republic but also the Cooperative Capital of the Philippines. This means that Bulakenyos can work together for the attainment of a shared goal. And as learners struggle in reading, we never give up as nothing is impossible when we are together. (CLJD/SFV-PIA 3)