(Photo Courtesy: Valenzuela PIO) 

QUEZON CITY, (PIA) – The annual Reading Camp to further address the learning gaps of students in terms of reading and comprehension was officially launched in Valenzuela on Tuesday, Agust 8.

The Valenzuela Reading Camp is a remedial program that caters to elementary school students who are particularly categorized as “non-readers” and “frustrated readers” following the Philippine Individual Reading Test (Phil-IRI) assessment. 

The DepEd Valenzuela has identified 32 non-readers and 1,297 frustrated readers from Grades 3, 4, and 5 in the city for the year 2023.

The learning intervention initiative targets to benefit a total of 1,329 students from the 42 public elementary schools in the city.

During the program's launch, Vice Mayor Lorie Natividad-Borja highlighted the goal of the local government to improve the reading proficiency of students thus honing their learning abilities. 

The Reading Camp will cover ten (10) half-day sessions until August 22, 2023. Incentives such as gift certificates will be given to students who will complete and actively participate in the sessions. 

Earlier, a Teaching Camp was held last August 1 to capacite the selected teachers who will facilitate the reading program. A total of 64 teachers and 132 volunteer teacher aides from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela (PLV) were equipped with a set of teaching methods that they can utilize to provide an efficient learning experience among the students.

To date, Valenzuela Reading Camp was able to enhance the reading progress of 85,059 students since its launch in 2014, excluding the years of the COVID-19 pandemic. (VALENZUELA PIO/PIA-NCR)