QUEZON CITY, (PIA) -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd), launched the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program on Wednesday (August 2) at the Rizal High School in Pasig City.

The Tara, BASA! Tutoring Program is a holistic social welfare and development model 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 Grade 1.

As Youth Development Workers, these collegiate students will conduct sessions with parents or parents-substitutes on the care and protection of children and guide them to be “Nanay-Tatay Teachers”.

DSWD Secretary REX Gatchalian and Vice President and Vice President and concurrent Secretary of the Department of Education Sara Duterte, sign the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to officially launch the pilot implementation of the program.

Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program is the reformatted educational assistance of the DSWD aimed to help and provide assistance to college students from low-income families who are in difficult situations, assist the struggling or non-reader grade school learners who are vulnerable, at risk, or affected by the effects brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, and capacitate parents and guardians to become ‘Nanay-Tatay teachers’.

The tutoring program will be piloted in the National Capital Region (NCR) in the cities of Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon, Navotas, Manila, Mandaluyong, Makati, Pasay, Las Pinas, Quezon City, Marikina, San Juan, Pasig, Taguig, Paranaque, Muntinlupa and in the lone municipality of Pateros.

Secretary Gatchalian said the program is the Department’s contribution to strengthening social protection programs for the vulnerable sectors, especially Filipino children and the youth.

“Through Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program, it is our goal to increase the involvement of college students from low-income families in nation-building while helping them in completing their tertiary education,” Secretary Gatchalian said.

“The program also aims to address the learning losses to reduce vulnerability among children and mitigate the scarring caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the eight-point socio-economic agenda of the Marcos administration,” the DSWD chief said.

The college students who were capacitated by the Department to become Tutors and Youth Development Workers will receive a Cash for Work amounting to Php 570 per day for 20 days in exchange for their rendered service.

The DSWD’s financial aid aims to defray school expenses of college students such as transportation expenses, school supplies, school projects, allowances, and other related expenses.

As tutors, college student beneficiaries will conduct reading tutorial sessions to help Grade 1 students who are either struggling or non-readers. Children must belong to low-income households and be enrolled in public schools.

Youth Development Workers will conduct Nanay-Tatay Teacher sessions for parents and guardians on effective parenting with topics such as understanding the self as parent, dynamics of the Filipino family, challenges in parenting, child development, and children’s rights, among others.

Parents and guardians of struggling or non-reader elementary learners will also receive cash aid worth Php 235 per day for 20 days by rendering assistance in preparing the needs of their children for learning and reading sessions, assisting them in their after-reading session assignments, and attending parent effectiveness sessions as well as other related activities. (dswd/pia-ncr)